Pokémon A New Beginning
by 275p
Summary: 30 years after the events of Gold and Silver, a young boy named Damian visits the lab of the now 65 years old Profesor Elm to get a pokemon. But then he realizes that he's able to talk to pokemon! Determined to find out the origin of his power, he goes on a journey through the whole Johto region, while also taking on all 8 gyms and the Pokémon League!
1. Chapter 1

_**Chapter 1 The Journey begins**_

_**Beep**_

_**Beep**_

_**Beep**_

Damian slowly opened his eyes and looked at his alarm watch. It was 7 am. "7 am?! I'm late! Profesor Elm is waiting for me_!", _he thought to himself panickly. He jumped out of his bed quickly went to the bathroom and started to take a shower. Normally Damian wouldn't be in such a hurry. But today was different.

He was getting his first Pokemon!

It took him 2 years to finally convince his parents, that he is old enough to get one! And yesterday they finally agreed! Although getting a Pokemon at the age of 13 is a bit early, Damian was happy that he finally got the chance of getting a real Pokemon. It would be awesome, he just knew it!

A few moments later, he finally got dressed. Damian wore a purple T shirt, a pair of blue trousers and a pair of sunglasses on his red hair. He went downstairs, where he already saw an old, blue haired woman wearing an appron around her pyjama. It was Damian's mother, Helen. When she noticed her son, she smiled. "Morning Honey, did you sleep-" Before she could finish her sentence, Damian ran past her, opened the door and then ran through it while saying: "Morning mum, see ya later!" Helen looked at first surprised, but then laughed genuinely. His reckless behavior may be troublesome at times, while also being clearly amusing to others. "Have fun Damian.", she thought to herself smiling.

Damian drived through the streets of New Bark Town on his bycycle. The city has changed much over the years. There were more appartments, a new supermarket and also a plaza with a fountain. A few minutes later, he arrived at Proffesor Elm' s Laboratory. He stopped his bike before the massive white building, jumped of from his vehicle and entered through a big glass door the laboratory. Inside, he saw many different looking people in lab coats looking working on the computer. But Profesor Elm was nowwhere to be found! "I'd better ask someone.", Damian thought, while playing with his hair. He went to a young woman with orange hair in a white lab coat, who was currently working on her computer. "Excuse me, but have you seen Profesor Elm? I was supossed to meet him here at 7. 20 am.", he asked. The woman turned around and faced Damian. She smiled. "Ah you must be Damian Wilson. The profesor is already expecting you." She pointed at a staircase, heading upstairs. "Go to the first floor please. He'll be there." Damian nodded. "Thanks mam." He went to the staircase and followed it upstairs.

At the end of it, he opened a brown wooden door and entered a small room. It was mostly white, except maybe the windows, which were blue and the brown bookshelves. In the middle of the room was a man with short grey hair, a pair of glasses sitting at a desk. He looked up from his papers and smiled. "Hello, you must be Damian aren't you?", he asked with a tilted head. Damian nodded. "Yes profesor, I came here to get my first pokemon." The profesor' s face shifted into a frown. "Oh right. I almost forgot." Damian looked confused at Elm. "What's wrong?", he asked. The profesor shook his head and stood up. "I'm sorry to tell you this Damian, but I can't give you a pokemon." Damian couldn't believe what he heard . No pokemon for him? "Why? Why can't you give me one?", he asked sadly. Elm looked down. "Yesterday I had the three starter pokemon in this building." He looked up to Damian. "But when I came here, tommorow, there were all gone." He pushed his glasses up. "I'm sorry my boy, but I can't give you one. You have to come back a few weeks later."

Damian was about to cry. It wasn't fair! Why did it always had to be like that? Why couldn't he be happy? "Please profesor! ", Damian begged suddenly with tears in his eyes. "I really want a pokemon! I don't care if it is bad, just please give it to me! I'll take it, no matter what!" The profesor looked to Damian confused. ""You' ll take it, no matter what, you say?", he asked. Damian nodded immensly. "Yes sir, please I' ll take it! I will play with it. I will take care of it. I will love it!" The profesor tapped his chin slowly. "We do have a pokemon.", he started. Damian wiped his tears away and looked up to Elm. "But I don't know if you will like it." Damian shook his head. "I'll take it. Please!" The profesor nodded. "Very well. Follow me please. " He went downstairs and Damian followed him.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 A New Friend?

Damian followed Professor Elm through another staircase downstairs. The professor opened an old door at the end of the stairs and opened it. "Here we are.", he said. Damian followed the older man and entered a big dark room full of boxes. "This is the place, where we usually store the pokemon for new trainers.", he said, while adjusting his glasses. Damian watched, as the professor opened one of the boxes in the middle of the room. Inside the box, laid a single pokeball. Elm took it out and pressed a button on the ball. It opened and a flash of light appeared. When the light was gone, Damian was confused.  
In front of him was a grey creature, with a pair of green-yellow eyes. "What is that?", Damian asked sceptical. Professor Elm pointed at the creature. "This is a Shuppet. A ghost pokemon from Hoenn and your new partner.", he explained. The Shuppet looked at Damian curiously. The ladder looked like he was about to cry again. He finally had a pokemon! "We're gonna be best friends, I just know it!", Damian said happily and tried to hug Shuppet. But the pokemon dodged and hid behind the boxes glaring at Damian. The boy looked confused to the professor. "Did I do something wrong?", he asked. The professor just shook his head. "It is a Shuppet. They're known for being a bit.. untrusting to humans. It needs time, until it loves you." Professor Elm held the pokeball in front of Shuppet, pressed the button and the pokemon was back in his ball. Elm gave it to Damian. "Take care of it. Love it. That's very important for a pokemon.", he said to the boy with a stern look on his face. Damian nodded. "Understood professor. I will take care of it as you said. Thank you!" And with that, Damian left the room and went upstairs. Elm chuckled. The look on his face reminded him of the boy, that he gave a Cyndaquill many years ago.

Perhaps Damian could be as good as Ethan?

Or maybe even better?

Damian left the building, happy that he finally got a pokemon. He released Shuppet immediately from his pokeball. The pokemon came out and looked at Damian confused. "Hey I just wanted to ask, how you' re doing budd.", Damian said smilling. Shuppet glared at Damian though.

"Don't call me "Buddy". We're not friends.", said Shuppet.

Wait, what was that? Damian stood in awe. Did the Shupppet just talk? "You can talk?", Damian asked surprised. Shuppet, who was also as surprised as the boy, looked at him. "Wait you can understand me?", it asked. Damian nodded his head. "How?", Shuppet asked sceptical. "Since when can you talk to pokemon?!", it shouted. The kid took a few steps backwards with open hands. "Hey I don' t know! This is the first time, this has hapenned!" Shuppet glared at him for a few seconds and then stopped. "I suppose I should apologize. I'm sorry, it just took me of guard." Damian nodded. "Hey, hey buddy I completely understand and..." "But please don't call me "Buddy". I'm not your friend. And don't you even dare to carry me in this ball." Damian rolled his eyes, slightly annoyed by the attitude of Shuppet. "Fine, I won't carry you in my pokeball then. Now follow me, I want to introduce you to my parents." Shuppet sighed. "Oh great, new people."

A few minutes later, Damian and Shuppet arrived at Damian' s house on the bike, with Damian riding and Shuppet sitting on the back of the vehicle. "Here we are.", Damian said. "This is my house." Shuppet said nothing and followed his trainer. When he entered the house, his mum sat still at the table. At first Hellen smiled, but when she saw Shuppet her face shifted into a frown. "What the heck is that for a thing?!", she shouted in disgust. "A ghost type pokemon?! And then one that is in TG by Rettan?!" Damian sighed. It was always the same. Rettan is an organisation that specialized in competitive Pokemon Battling. It was founded many years , after Ethan defeated Red in a fierce battle. The organisation has a tier system where the pokemon is divided into certain groups.

There is:

AG (Absolutely Good)

VG (Very Good)

MG (Maybe Good)

RG (Rarely Good)

and the lowest of all:

TG (Totally Garbage)

"Mum it doesn't matter where Rettan says, he is. He is my Bud...uh I mean new aquaintance.", Damian countered. His mum only gasped. "How dare you, you stunky?! Rettan is absolute! When your father comes home this evening, we' re gonna talk! Now you two get both upstairs immediately!" Damian nodded slowly and went with Banette to his room. He slammed the door shut and fell on his bed. Shuppet looked at Damian a bit concerned. "You really look pathetic you know? Why didn' t you just slap her?", it asked. Damian looked to Shuppet flabergasted. "Are you serious? She is my mum!" Shuppet smiled a bit. "Well it was worth a shot to ask though." Damian sighed. "Man I really wish I could show them, how wrong they are about you." Shuppet nodded. "I agree with you. I know about the system. Being in TG is not a good feeling." Damian started to think. How can he prove his parents wrong? "Maybe a bit of watching TV is going to help.", he said to Shuppet and turned the device on. The ladder nodded. "Right. I never watched TV before." Damian looked confused to his pokemon. "You never did?", he asked confused. Shupppet stared at him. "I'm a pokemon and not a human boy. I never watched "TV", as you call it, before. I lived in the wild." Damian grinned sheeplishly. "Right forgot about that. Say, how was your life in the wild?" Before Shuppet could answer, he was interrupted by music coming from the TV. A man dressed in a yellow suit, black hair and a pair of red gloves smiled to the camera. **"Hello people, it is me the Johto champion Ethan! I' m here to announce that in a few months the Pokemon World Championship is gonna happen."** Shuppet looked curiously at the TV. As did Damian. **"In this event you will battle against trainers from all around the world! How do you participate you ask? Simple! First you need to beat every gym in your region! Then you only need to beat the pokemon league and the first place and runner up are automatically qualified!" **Damian couldn't believe what he heard. A Pokemon World Championship? He had to participate! "This is exactly what we need! We'll beat the world championships!", he exclaimed excited. Shuppet only stared at him. "Are you crazy? I' m not good enough for this!" Damian nodded. "Maybe alone." He smiled. "But together, we can do great things. We' ll beat them all!" Shuppet was quiet for a minute. Then he smiled. "I believe we might have a chance. It is a deal." Damian punched his fist, when he heard its words. "Then let's go! I need to start to pack my things!


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 The Challenge**

Damian was packing a lot of things into his backpack. Potions? Check! Berrys? Check! Money? Check! It looks like they had everything they need for their big adventure. Damian smiled. "We're all set. Ready Shuppet?" The pokemon laid on the bed and groaned. "Fine I'll go.", it said groaning. Shuppet got up and levitated to his trainer. "All right. Let's do this!", Damian said while cracking his knuckles. They both left the room and went downstairs.

When the two of them arrived before the front door , Hellen and Damian's father Charles stood before them with crossed arms. Charles wore a white t shirt, a pair of shorts and had long grey hair."Where do you think, you're going Damian?", his father asked. "I'm going to challenge the gyms of Johto.", Damian replied determined. His mother and his father bursted out laughing. "You? Challenging the gyms? With a AG pokemon?" You can never do it!", Helen said laughing. Damian shook his head. "I can do it!", he insited angry. Charles was the first one to calm down and shook his head. "No Damian. You will not challenge them, since you'll lose anyway.", he replied stern. The boy heard Shuppet growling in anger. He had to do something. "How about a deal dad?", he asked. Charles looked curiously to his son. "A deal? What kind of a deal?" Damian took a deep breath. "If I manage to win a pokemon battle, then you'll let me travel. If not I will stay here." Helen looked to her husband. The ladder nodded. "Deal.", he said. His son smiled. He has a chance to prove himself! "But who are you gonna challenge though?", his father asked. Before anyone could reply, someone knocked at the door. "Coming!", Hellen said and opened the door. In front of it was a girl with blonde hair, a black jacket and grey trousers. Hellen smiled at the girl. "Hello there. Can we help you, sweetie?" The girl nodded. "Yes I overheard your family talk and I want to fight against this Damian." Charles laughed. "Great to hear it. What is your name?", he asked, as always with a fake smile. "My name is Nikki Powell.", she replied, while doing a peace sign. Hellen and Charles gasped in shock. "You' re Nikki Powell? I can' t believe a pokemon prodigy is standing in front of us!", Hellen exclaimed. Damian and Shuppet looked confused. "Uhm pokemon prodigy?", Damian asked with a raised eyebrow. Charles shook his head. "Damian, why must you always be so stupid?" He pointed at Nikki. "This girl here is the daughter of Johto's champion Ethan Powell. She is known for being extremely skilled, despite only being a trainer for a week and only being as old as you." Nikki smiled. "Of course I'm good. But I honestly doubt, that you' d win with a Shuppet against my Gastly." Damian shook his head and stood up in front of Nikki, despite the former being a bot taller than him. "I don' t care, who you are. Shuppet is not weak! I will prove that.", he said determined. Nikki only giggled. "Wow you sure have guts. How about we battle in half an hour at 7.30 pm at the fountain?" Damian nodded. "Fine by me.". He looked at Shuppet, the ladder nodding slightly. His parents looked surprised at their son, baffled by his courage to prove himself. However, Nikki only beamed a smile. "Great! You should definetly train though, to at least scratch Gastly! See ya!" And with that, she ran away. Damian looked after her for a short while and then turned to his parents. "I'm going to train somewhere now. We'll meet at 7.30pm.", he said and ran with Shuppet away, before his parents could reply.

A few moments later, they arrived at the Route 29 outside of New Bark Town. "Okay.", Damian said, turning to Shuppet. "Show me what you got." Shuppet nodded, charged at Damian, while screaming "Knock Off and punched him away. Damian flew a few metres away, his bag falling of his shoulders and then ended up on the ground. "Screech!", said Shuppet and let out a scream. Damian covered his ears in pain. "Stop! I said on a wild pokemon on this route, not on me!" Shuppet flew to his trainer. "Sorry, but you looked like an Unown to me.", it replied smirking. Rubbing his head, Damian glared at his pokemon. "You did that on purpose! You are my pokemon and you should listen to me, since I'm your trainer!", he shouted. Shuppet shook his head slightly. "You should be a bit more accurate, with your orders then "trainer"." Damian stood up and sighed. How should he defeat this Nikki girl, if his own pokemon wouldn't even obey him? "Need help, kiddo?", someone asked suddenly. Damian turned around and a saw a man. He wore a white smoking with a black tie and a pair of red trousers. He also had red hair and his beard was red. The young boy looked at the figure sceptical. "Who are you?" The man chuckled. "That doesn't matter my boy. What matters, is that you and your pokemon apparently don't get along. Do you have a problem?" Damian hesitated. Should he really tell an unknown person, what was wrong? His parents always said to never talk to strangers. But Damian felt like, talking to this man would help him. Damian slowly stood up."Well you see. it is like this." He then explained the man, about the events of this day. The man nodded. "Ah so you have to beat this Nikki girl or otherwise your parents won' t let you travel?" Damian looked on the ground. "Yes exactly. But I don' t know anything about pokemon battling. And Nikki is apparently really good." The man looked to the sky. "Well she is quite good for her age, I give her that." He smiled and clapped with his hands. "But she is not invincible. Let me help you, defeat this Nikki. We'll both train together and then you will beat her as if you're a do you say, buddy?" Damian though for a second. This man may be a stranger to him, but what other choice does he have? Shuppet flew to his trainer and leaned close to Damian' s ear. "I believe we might need him. I really want to beat that Gastly.", it said sounding somewhat genuinely nice. Damian nodded. "Fine. We'll accept your help." The man laughed happlily and clapped. "Great choice! Let' s get started!"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 Training

"All right, let's start with the basics!", the red haired man said. He took out a pokeball and released a pokemon from it. The pokemon was small and had a lot of points on it. "This is a Spinda. He will be your opponent.", the man explained. Damian looked at the Spinda curiously. The ladder moved really strange and looked like as it was about to fall. "Typical Spinda. They always act confused, to deceive their enemies.", the man said smiling. "Now should we start?" The boy nodded and turned around to Shuppet, who just said: "Whatever." The man laughed. "Okay you need to shout the name of the attack, that your pokemon is going to use." He pointed at Shuppet. "Spinda use Psybeam!" Spinda turned to the ghost pokemon and shot a purple beam at it. It hit Shuppet right in the face and it flew a few metres away. "Are you alright?", Damian asked concerned. Shuppet nodded. "That hurt. I want to beat that drunk panda!", it said, glaring at his opponent. The man smiled and clapped. "Now, are you going to just stand there?" Damian turned to Shuppet. "Knock Off!", he said. Shuppet charged at Spinda and punched it in its belly. The panda pokemon flew a few metres away and then lay on the ground. Shuppet smiled. "How do you like that huh?", it asked smugly. Spinda slowly stood up. "Ouch, that hurt buddy." The man didn't seem to hear the voices of the pokemon. So I'm the only one here, Damian thought. "Spinda, use Shadow Ball!", the man shouted. The pokemon nodded, formed a dark purple ball from its hands and fired it at Shuppet. "Your pokemon needs to dodge!", the red haired man said. At first he was confused, but then Damian knew what to do. "Shuppet, dodge it!", he shouted with his lungs. The ghost pokemon flew immediately to the right, just before the Shadow Ball hit him. "Are you ok?", Damian asked concerned. Shuppet let out a "Tsk" and smiled. "Ha, I'm fine. Maybe we aren't a bad team after all. The man clapped. "Excellent work kiddo! Now you might want to use some status moves!" He turned to Spinda. "Spinda use Calm Mind!" Spinda sat itself on the ground and started to mediate. Then a light came from the panda pokemon and it stood up again. "And now use Psybeam!" Spinda fired again a purple beam at Shuppet. The beam hit Shuppet straight in the face and knocked it out. "Shuppet!", Damian screamed shocked. Shuppet didn't move and laid on the ground.

"Spinda, good job!", the man said and pointed his pokeball at spinda, who was then sucked back into the ball. Damian ran to Shuppet and leaned to it. "Are you alright?", he asked. Shuppet grunted. "Why was that attack so powerful?", it asked. The man came closer to the boy. "In case you want to know, Calm Mind raises the Special Attack and Special Defense of a pokemon. That's why the attack was so powerful.", he explained while playing with his hair smilling. Damian on the other hand didn't smile. He looked down to his Shuppet worringly. If he couldn't beat the man, how should he have a chance against Nikki? The man took out, what looked like a blue spray bottle and sprayed it at Shuppet. The ladder slowly rose up again and coughed. "After a battle, you should always heal your pokemon. One potion is good for the job.", the man said, watching as Shuppet recovers. He then looked to Damian, who still seemed sad. "What is wrong? Are you sad, that you lost?" he asked concerned. Damian nodded. "Yes. How should I beat her, if I even lost the training part? I only have 15 minutes left before the battle. How can I beat her?" The man shook his head. "Don' t say that boy. Every starting point is rough, but that doens' t mean that you should give up." He beamed a genuine smile at Damian. "By the way, I saw that your Shuppet, could do Screech. Do you know what it does?", he asked. Damian didn't answer. "Well it lowers the defense of the opponent sharply. Hey I have an idea!" The man took out a red tablet and held it in front of Shuppet. "What is that?", Damian asked curiously. "This is a pokedex.", the man explained. "It has the data of every pokemon in Johto stored in it, while also being able to see the attacks of a pokemon." He tapped a button on it and a voice came from the pokedex. "Shuppet, the puppet pokemon. Shuppets are known for provoking their trainers, so they can feed on their negative emotions." Damian looked to Shuppet surprised. "Do you really do that?" Shuppet nodded. "Yes my kind does it all the time. It is our favorite meal." The man looked confused to Damian. "Who are you talking to my boy?" Damian shook his head. "I just talk to myself that is all." Being able to understand the pokemon language, was the only thing that he didn't tell the strange man. The man seemd pleased with the answer and then pressed another button on the device. Another voice came out of the pokedex. "Current moves of Shuppet: Knock Of, Screech and Shadow Sneak." "What is Shadow Sneak?", Damian asked. The man smiled. "A very fast move for ghost pokemon. It always goes first." Damian then had an idea. "Could this strategy work?", he asked and leaned to the ear of the man. He whispered his plan to him and the adult seemed to like it. "Nice idea! With that, you can beat her easily!" Damian smiled happily. "Then I might have a chance!", Damian exclaimed excited and then looked at his wristwatch. "Oh the battle starts in 10 minutes, I have to go! Thank you for the training!" The man smiled. "It was nothing kid. Good luck", he said turned around and went to the opposite direction of New Bark town. "Why are you so happy?", Shuppet asked sceptically. "Do you have a plan?" His trainer nodded determined. "Yes I do. We will beat this Nikki girl, I just know it!" Shuppet smiled. "You know , your smile actually makes me confident. Maybe we actually have a chance against Gastly." They both then went back to their home town, ready to face their challenge.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 Showtime

Many people surrounded the fontain of New Bark Town. When it was told that Nikki would battle against a trainer, the whole village immediately met at the scheduled time. After all, Nikki was considered to be a prodigy and no one would want to miss a pro in action. While must people talked, Nikki was standing in front of the fountain wile playing with her golden ring on her finger. It was 7. 30 pm and Damian was still nowhere to be seen. "Where is he?", she asked herself, getting impatient. "Is he really that afraid of facing me?" While she was thinking, Nikki was aproached by Charles and Hellen. "We're sorry, that our son didn't show up. He is known to be a coward.", Charles stated. Hellen shook her head disgusted. "I can't believe that my son is such a baby!" Although Nikki could agree with the of her parents, she couldn't help but feel a bit sad that Damian's parents spoke so negative about him. Maybe that's why he accepted my challenge? To prove himself?, Nikki thought curiously.

Suddenly, she heard someone running. Nikki looked at the runner and saw that it was Damian along with Shupett, the ladder having problems catching up with his trainer. "Sorry, I'm late.", Damian said panting. Nikki raised an eyebrow. "Where were you, if I may ask?" Damian just shook his head. "Doesn't matter. What matters though, is your deafeat!", the young pokemon trainer said with a confident smile. Nikki was taken back by these words. Since when did that boy start to gain self confidence? Damian stared at her determined. "Are we going to start or what?", he asked impatiently. Nikki slowly nodded. "Right. First the rules. We both may use only one pokemon and no items." Damian pumped his fist. "Let's go!" Damian took a few steps back, until their battlefield was about 10 metres wide. "I still don't get, what you plan is all about.", Shuppet said, looking at his trainer sceptically. The boy smiled even more. "Don't worry Shuppet, we got this. Just listen to my orders, K?" The pokemon slowly nodded, then faced his opponent. Nikki took out a purple pokeball from her jacket pocket. She pointed it at Shuppet, pressed the button and then threw the ball. A glow emerged from it and a dark ball looking pokemon with big eyes appeared. "I will crush you!", it said to Shuppet. The ladder looked rather unimpressed. "Not before I crush you!", Shuppet said glaring. Damian only sighed. "What?", the pokemon asked. "You really need to work on your battle speeches. That was awful.", Damian said exasperated. Charles stepped in the middle of the field. "This a battle between the pokemon prodigy Nikki.." Everyone clapped when her name was mentioned, while the prodigy girl bowed down. "...and my son Damian!" No one clapped for him, but Damian already expected that. "The rules were already mentioned by Nikki, so let*s start!", Charles shouted, left the battle field and went to his wife. The two trained glared at each other and then the battle begun.

**Damian vs Nikki**

"Gastly use Shadow Ball!", Nikki ordered. The ghost pokemon formed a dark sphere and then fired it at Shuppet. "Dodge quickly!", shouted Damian. The pokemon flew to the side and the shadowy sphere missed its target. "Now use Screech!", Damian shouted again. Shuppet nodded and let out a terrible loud scream. Everyone, except Damian, was covering their ears in pain, including Nikki and Ghastly (although it doesn't have any hands to cover its none seen ears).Damian smirked. "He's distractes Shuppet! Go for Knock Off!" Shuppet smiled, charged at Gastly and rammed it. Gastly flew a few feet away and landed on the ground. "Get up Gastly!", shouted Nikki angrily. "We can't lose this!" Gastly nodded and immediately flew up again. Damian gritted his teeth. The attack was strong because of screech, but it still wasn't enough to knock Gastly out., Damian thought. What now?

"Damian, help me you idiot!"

The boy awoke from his thoughts and saw that Gastly was firing one Shadow Ball after another. All of the balls hit Shuppet straight in the face. "Shuppet!", Damian cried out in despair. Nikki smirked. "I admit that using screech was a smart move. But you still lose anyway." Shuppet fell on the ground, being exausted of the attacks. Damian however just looked even more determinend now."Come on Shuppet, you can do it! If you have any attack that you didn't use, do it now!" Shuppet didn't move. Nikki smirked even more. "And now Gastly, finish it with lick! Taste your victory!", she screamed. Damian looked down as Gastl slowly approached his pokemon. Shuppet looked to Damian and made a weak smile. "Well it was fun while it lasted.", it said sounding somewhat friendly. The boy shook his head. He couldn't give up! Damian kneeled to Shuppet. "Listen, when I say "go" use Knock Off again. Please do it." Shuppet nodded slowly. It wouldn't make a difference anyway. Gastly was meanwhile coming closer and closer, being unaware what his opponent said to Shuppet. When it reached Gastly, it took out its tongue.

"Shuppet use Knock Off!"

Gastly's eyes widened in shock as Shuppete rammed it with all his strength that was left. Gastly flew away again and landed on the ground in front of Nikki, this time even harder than the first time.

And this time, Gastly didn't move at all.

It was a critical hit!

Everyone was silent. Did Nikki the prodigy got easily beaten by a noob just now? The girl took out her pokeball again and called her unconscious Gastly back without a word. Damian couldn't believe it. They actually won! "We won!", shouted Damian happily. "Shuppet we did it!" Shuppet smiled weakly. "Heck yeah!", it said. Damian slowly picked it up, being surprised how light it is. "Now, now you need some rest buddy. Tommorow we will leave New Bark Town and explore Johto!" As Damian was about to leave, his parents stood before him. "We want to apologize Damian. We're sorry for being so mean to you.", Charles said remorsely. Hellen nodded. "If you want to travel through Johto, we're not going to stop you son." Damian only nodded and went away. He was done with his parents. The rest of the people that watched the battle, were also starting to leave

"You!"

Damian turned around and saw Nikki running towards him. "I don't know how I lost against you, but mark my words Damie! Next time you'll lose!", she said angrily. Damian smiled. "I'll look forward to our next battle.", he said and left her. The girl was confused. Usually when she's angry, people ould be scared. But he seemed pretty relaxed. I will watch him., Nikki thought determined. You will lose Damie!

Back home Damian was sitting on his bed, with Shuppet sitting next to him. "I really crushed that Gastly didn't I?", Shuppet asked with smug. The pokemon only needed half an hour to recover from its battle and was now his usual self again. Damian nodded. "Yes you did. Now we can take on the Gyms and show them what we got. Right partner?" Shuppet sighed. "Don't call me "partner". But yeah sounds good." With that, Damian let himself fall on the bed and slept immediately, dreaming from new upcoming adventures in Johto.

**The journey starts now**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 Hello Companion

"I'm going!", Damian declared, with his bag on his shoulder. Today on this morning, he's finally going on a journey! He left the living room and went to the door along with Shupette while rubbing his eyes, still a bit tired from yesterday's events. His parents stood at the staircase, watching as the boy left with sad looks on their faces. They slowly waved, but Damian didn't notice, nor did he care.

After a few metres, they reached the end of New Bark Town. There was a sign that said:

**You're leaving New Bark Town.**

**Next up: Route 29**

Damian then turned around and stared at the city thoughtfully. Shuppet looked to his trainer." What are ya waiting for? We almost left the town.", it asked confused. Damian slowly nodded. "I know. It's just, that I was raised in here. New Bark Town is my homeplace after all. Leaving is just...hard. Not that you can understand."Shuppet flew closer to the boy. "Hey I get how you feel. It really isn't easy, to just leave your home. Especially if you have no other choice." Damian turned to Shuppet. "Did this happeny to you? Like, were you forced to leave your home as well?", he asked, slightly curious at his pokemon's curiosity. Shuppet only shook his head. "I don't want to talk about it. But you left by choice, while others could not. You need to stick to your decisions." Damian slowly nodded, then left the town along with his pokemon. Then they entered the same path, where they used to train yesterday and where they also met the strange man. "Huh, it's unusally quiet out here.", Damian said. "Shouldn't there be more pokemon or what?" Shuppet just shook its head. "They're just sleeping. The sky is still a little dark after all."They continued to walk through the path, until they suddenly saw a figure approaching the pair. Damian widened his eyes in shock.

In front of them was Nikki along with her Gastly. She still wore the same clothing as yesterday, only this time she was wearing a white ribbon in her hair. Nikki looked quite confused."What are you doing here Damie?", she asked. "Do you know, what time it is?"Damian shrugged. "I just started my journey and I'm on my way to the next town. What are you doing here?", he replied. Nikki looked to her Gastly. "Training of course, what else? Gastly and I need to get stronger after all." The ghost pokemon smiled along with its trainer. Damian and Shuppet then tried to walk past them, until Nikki put her hand on his shoulder. "Where do you think you're going? You can't just leave me!", she said angrily. Damian groaned in annoynance. This girl really had some nerve! Was she still mad at him, for her first loss? "Look I really want to reach the next town, so I can finally fight in the gym. So can you please go?", he asked. Nikki just giggled though. "Ah so you also want to challenge Falkner?", she asked smiling. The boy scratched his head. "Who is Falkner?", he asked confused. Nikki rolled her eyes. "Thy gym leader of Violet City of course! You have to defeat him, to gain the badge!", she said, slightly annoyed by Damian's lack of knowledge. "Right I know that.", Damian replied sheepishly. Nikki sighed at the response of the boy. "Whatever. I also want to challenge him, to gain my first badge." Damian looked at her surprised. "You don't have any badge yet? But my parents called you a pokemon "prodigy"!", he said confused. Nikki just looked away. "I am good, that is true. But I've only been a trainer for a week and was really busy training. But yesterday after that battle of ours, I realized that I must be the pokemon champion to prove I'm the really best like no one ever was!" She smiled at him. "So what do you say? Can we join you?", Nikki asked. Damian leaned to Shuppet. "What do you think Shuppet?", he asked his pokemon. The ladder only shrugged. "I don't really care tbh. I guess she can go with us.", it replied bored. "But hopefully that Gastly stays away from me." it tuerned around to Gastly, who was still smilling at the pair. Damian nodded and turned back to Nikki. "Sure come along. I don't mind." Nikki grinned and punched the boy lightly in the shoulder. "Great choice Damie! We should get going, if we want to reach Violet City!" The male pokemon trainer nodded and continued the path along with the others.

Unbeknownst to them, a masked figure was watching the two trainers and pokemon from a bush. The person had red hair, wore a face mask and also wore a black suit with a big "RA" on the front. He took out a receiver and turned it on. "Hello boss, the trainer is on his way to Violet City. Pokemon prodigy Nikki and her Gastly, joined him as well." A distorted voice came out from the device. "Don't worry. They won't interfere. I will make sure of that.", the voice said. "With all due respect Sir, why should I pursue this boy? He's just a trainer!" The voice chuckled. "I have my reasons. Now follow him or you know what is going to happen." The man gulped. "Yes of course. Goodbye sir." With that, he turned the receiver off and continued to watch the pair of trainers from the distance, as they slowly disappeared. Hopefully, you are good kids and mind your own business, he thought to himself.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 How to catch a pokemon

"Great! We're finally here!" Nikki looks at the small town happily, from a small mountain she was standing on. "Well that walk wasn't so hard was it Gastly?", she asked confident. Gastly shooks its head. The pokemon prodigy smiles. "Glad you agree! Come on Damian, you can relax now! We're here!" She turned around and saw an exhausted Damian along with his Shuppet slowly catching up to them. "Did *huff* you *huff have to walk that fast? You could just *huff* relax and enjoy the view.", he said, tired from walking. Nikki shook her head. "I was walking very slow. You're just not fast enough, that's all.", she replied with a smug grin. Damian just couldn't believe this girl. "Is this Viola City?", he asked. Nikki shook her head. "Nope. This is Cherrygrove City! We're resting here for the night!" The boy looked dumbstruck at his companion. "What do you mean "for the night"? The day has already started!" Shuppet nodded. "Right. What is the meaning of this?", it said (although only Damian could hear it). She shrugged. "Simple. Normally we'd go through the main path, but yesterday there was an explosion near the Dark Cave. And now, no one is allowed to go there for security reasons.", she replied. Damian nodded slightly. "There was an explosion? But how are we going to go to Violet City now?", he asked annoyed. The day just started a few hours ago and there were problems already! Why couldn't things be easy for once? To Damian's surprise, Gastly answered to him. "Man you are really dumb, you moron.", it said exaspereated. Before the boy could say anything in return, Nikki replied to him. "Simple. We use the Magnet Train. It will bring us straight to Violet City in no time! Unfortunately the next train leaves tommorow at 9 AM, so we have to stay here for now. " Damian slowly nodded."Right. Then let's go.", he said unsure.

A few moments later, the two trainers and their pokemon went through the streets of Cherrygrove City. Damian couldn't help, but to be amazed by the city. It was much bigger than his hometown and there was even a big beach! "Do you like the city?", Nikki asked curiously. The boy smiled. "Yeah, it's very big.", he replied. Nikki giggled. "Oh you should just wait, until we reach Goldenrod City.", she said. Goldenrod City?, Damian thought. How could it be bigger than the one that we are currently there? "So what now?", the boy asked confused. His companion shrugged. "I dunno. Buy some food for our pokeom, I guess.", she said casually. Damian looked to his pokemon, who only nodded along with a noise ,that sounded like a grumble, coming out from it. "Okay and where can we get food?", the pokemon trainer asked. Nikki pointed at a white building with a blue roof. "Easy. We're going to the pokemon market. They always have good stuff." Then, they both entered the small blue building.

In the shop there were plenty of wardrobes full with pokemon articles like pokeballs, potions, letters and even food. "So Shuppet, what would you like to eat?", Damian sked his pokemon. The laddder only shrugged. "Doesn't really matter. I already eat enough of your emotions, when you and that Nikki girl were having an argument. Just buy me something.", it replied bored. The boy looked around the products, until he found a blue box with **Tasty Pokefood!** written on it . Damian decided to take it and went to Nikki and Gastly, who were already at the cash register. The two trainers agreed to pay the products, that they wanted to buy, together. "Ah there you are. Are you finished?" Damian nodded. "Yes I am. We should get going." They both laid the food on a table, while a young cash register scanned them. After he was finished, he smiles at the two trainers. "Ah good. That'd be 300 Pokedollars." After the two trainers paid, they left the cash register. But before they could leave the shop, the cashier stopped them. "Stop, you forgot to claim your reward!", he said. "Reward?", Damian asked bewildered. The cashier nodded. "Yes exactly. You see, every 150 Pokedollars that you pay you'll get this for free!" He took out two pairs of five pokeballs from a wardrobe and gave it to the two. "Huh, that's pretty convenient.", Nikki asked. "I wanted to buy some anyway." She looked at her companion. "You know what? I'll teach you how to cath some pokemon. What do you say Damie?", she asked smiling. The boy nodded. "Sure, why not? I need a new pokemon, to beat the gym leader after all." They both took the balls and left the building.

"I will now show you, how it is done.", Nikki told Damian. They both were at route 30 outside the city . Nikki went to the tall grass and looked around, while Damian watched her. Suddenly a small orange bear looking pokemon with a half moon symbol on its head, appeared out of the tall grass. Nikki grinned. "Well here it is. Gastly use Sludge Bomb!" Gastly opened its mouth and let out a purple liquid ball. It hit the pokemon straight in the face and then fell on the ground, groaning. The young pokemon trainer smiled confidently. "There! It is weakened! Now it's time for a pokeball!" She took out the ball, pressed a button on it and threw it at the bear pokemon. A flash of light appeared out of the device and trapped the creature. The pokeball shook a few times, until it stopped. "Yes!", Nikki screamed happy. "I just caught a Teddiursa!" Damian looked at her confused. "Tediursa?", he asked. "You don't know?", Nikki replied. "Teddiursa is really cute, but at the same time really strong when it evolves into Ursaring! It is a very strong pokemon!" Damian looked at her confused. "Strong? But isn't Ursaring also in AG like Shuppet?" Nikki grinned embarassed and called Teddiursa back into its pokeball. "Yeah but...Anyway now it's your turn! Catch a pokemon!" The boy slowly nodded, went into the tall grass and disappeared through it. He looked around. But there was no pokemon to be found. "Do you see anything Shuppet?", he asked his pokemon, who stood beside him. Shuppet shook its head. "Not at the moment. Maybe..." Suddenly there was a noise. It sounded like something running through the grass. "What was that?!", Damian asked scared. The ghost pokemon looked around. "There is a pokemon. I can smell it." Suddenly a small pokemon appeared. It was blue, had red eyes and also a bit of grass on its head. It spit some purple liquid at Shuppet. "Shuppet!", Damian cried. The ladder flew a few steps back, because of the impact. Damian knew he had to act fast. "Go, use Knock Off!" Shuppet charged at the pokemon and hit it in the face. The small creature spinned around for a bit, weakened by the attack. Now is my chance!, Damian thought and threw a pokeball. It hit the pokemon and trapped it. The ball shook a few times and suddenly exploded. "What the?!", Damian asked bewildered as the pokemon broke free. "You can't catch me!", it replied. Damian groaned. "Come on don't make this hard for us! I just want another friend.", he said. The pokemon looked surprised at the boy, "You can understand me?", it asked. Damian nodded. "Yes. I somehow can. Listen. My goal is to become the strongest trainer of Johto, but I need more pokemon so can I please catch you?" The pokemon looked at it sceptical. "And why should I follow you human?", it asked. "How do I know, that you only care about winning and will release me once you think I'm too weak!" At that point, Shuppet stepped in. "Trust me, that boy is way too pathetic to be this way. You can trust him.", it said while Damian groaned annoyed. The blue pokemon seemed to think for a while and then smiled. "I will join you, but only if I can have some food." Damian nodded, took out the box he bought from the market and gave one package to the pokemon. It quickly started to eat its meal. After it ate everything up, the pokemon laid on the ground tired. "That was great! Thank you trainer, now I'll gladly join you. Call me Oddish!" Damian grinned. "Great and you can call me Damian. We will be good friends, I just know it!" He then threw a pokeball at Oddish and this time, the ball didn't explode. "Great!", screamed Damian. "I caught a pokemon!"

He and Shuppet went out of the tall grass and ran to Nikki. "Since you're smilling, I believe you caught something?", she asked curiously. Damian nodded fast. "Exactly!" He took out his pokeball again and released Oddish. "Oh you caught an Oddish! It has two seperate evolutions, so that's convenient.", she said smiling. "It is already 1 PM. We should get to a pokemon center." Damian looked at her confused. "Why's that? Isn't it a bit too early for that?", he asked. Nikki shook its head. "Do you see the purple bubbles coming out from your Shuppet? It is poisoned and needs treatement now!", she shouts angrily. Damian flinched at the sudden outburst of his companion, but quickly understood the situation when he looked back at Shuppet, who was already vomiting yellow liquid. "Right let's go." And with that, they went back to the city, on their way to a pokemon center. 


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 "New Friends"

"Your pokemon is healthy now. We hope to see you again.", the pokemon center nurse said and bowed. Behind her was a Chansey , who carried Shuppet's pokeball on a plate. Damian took it and then released his pokemon from the ball. "Are you alright?", the boy asked concerned. Shuppet looked around groaning. "Where are we? And where's that Chick with her Gastly?", it asked, still a bit tired from the healing. Damian just shrugged. "We're at the Pokemon Center and Nikki went to the restrooms. Don't know where her other two pokemon are though. But anyway, how abot you'll meet your new friend?" New friend? What did he mean by...

"Hey Ghosty!"

Oh right...

Shuppet turned around and saw Oddish smilling at him. "Man I really can't believe that I hurt ya so much! I didn't want to hurt ya! I mean I wanted to hurt you when you and that boy where suddenly there out of nowwhere and I ask myself "What am I gonna do?" and then I deicided to hit you with poison powder since you looked so mean but then that Damian guy asked me to join you and..."

Before Oddish could go on, Shuppet interrupted the pokemon. "Okay, fine! Dude I get it, you're sorry and I accept the apology!", it said annoyed. Oddish glared at him though. "Don't call me "dude", I'm female!", Oddish replied. Shuppet rolled its eyes. "Whatever. ", it said exasperated. Shupett turned around to Damian. "So what's the plan?", it asked. "Simple. Nikki and I will eat lunch and you have to stay here.", Damian said, while playing with his hair. Shuppet glared at him. "Wait, why do I have to stay here?! I don't like being around so many humans!" Damian shook his head. "Nurse Joy said, that you still need to stay here for a few hours. I don't know why, but that's how it is. Don't worry though. The others will stay here with you.", he said smiling. He then looked to the front door, where Nikki was already waiting. "We have to go. I'll see you later.", he said and left the building with his female companion. Shuppet could only ask himself, what he meant by "others."

"Ah, are you healthy again "Ghosty"?"

Shuppet recognized the voice instantly and turned around sighing. In front of him were both the pokemon of Nikki, Teddiursa and Gastly. "It was really entertaining watching a joke like you, getting beaten by a weed thing.", it replied smirking. "What did you just call me?! I'm going to kick your ass, you derp face!", Oddish replied and began to create a green ball. "Energy Ball", she shouted and fired the attack straight in the face of Gastly. The ladder was not affected by the attack, but was also angry as it glared at the grass pokemon. "You'll regret that, weed junk!", the ghost pokemon said, gritting his teeth. But before it could strike back, Tediursa stood between them. "Guys stop fighting! It is not good to do that! We should all be friends!", it said with struck out hands. Gastly laughed. "Friends? With these losers? No thanks, idiot!", it said smirking. Tediursa just came closer to it though. "Come on, don't call me an idiot. We're on the same team after all!" Then Shuppet came closer to the normal type pokemon. "Just forget it. That Magikarp is too afraid to make friends.", it said with a smirk on its face. Tediursa started to smile. "Oh in that case I, Miss Tediursa, will take his fear away, by cuddling it. Play Rough!", she said while jumping on Gastly. The ladder seemed to be taken back by the attack and tried to free itself from the hugging bear. "Let me go!", it said annoyed. Shupette and Oddish only laughed at the scene of these two. "I swear Shupette when I evolve, you'll pay for this shit!", Gastly said, clearly embarassed by the hugs of Tediursa. The two pokemon continued to laugh, until suddenly a large explosion was heard. Tediursa stopped the cuddle attack and looked fearfully around. "Ah! That was an explosion! We're all going to die! I need to hide!", she said and then ran out of the Pokemon Center, through the front door. "Hey where are you going?!", Oddish shouted, but Tediursa had already left. "We need to follow her!" Shuppet slowly nodded. He didn't care, what Damian said. A pokemon has gone missing and they need to bring ! They both followed the path Tediursa has taken and even Gastly came along relucantly while muttering "Nikki is going to kill me".

Nurse Joy watched as the pokemon ran away. She wanted to scream "Wait!", but the pokemon had already left the building. She sighed. How is she going to explain this, to the two trainers?


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9 Prepare For Trouble

"I say we go to MC Mime!"

"No we go to Seakings! The food is way better there!"

"MC Mime!"

"Seakings!"

Outside on the streets of Cherrygrove City, two pokemon trainers named, Damian and Nikki were fighting. Although they at first wanted to buy themselves some food, the two couldn't agree where to get the food exactly.

"I say we go to MC Mime! I like their fried Magikarps!", Damian said with crossed arms.

"MC Mime is so unhealthy in comparison to Seakings! We go there!", Nikki replied with her hands on her hips.

"Well, who made you the leader?", Damian asked smirking.

"I'm the leader! I am the better trainer between us both!", she countered.

"But I defeated you now didn't I? Maybe I should be the leader!", he said smilling.

Before Nikki could answer, a large explosion suddenly interrupted the argument. Damian and Nikki both turned around and saw that at the beach, you could see black smoke and even some fire!

"What happened at the beach?!", Nikki asked bewildered. "We need to see if everyone is alright!", she exclaimed worringly. She took out her bag, opened it and took out a phone. "I'll call the Firefighters, while you call the police! Got it?"

Damian just groaned though. "Come on, you're overreacting Nikki.", he said annoyed.

The girl turned around and glared at her companion. "What did you just say?! People might be in danger, we have to do something!", she shouted angrily. How could this boy just stand there and do nothing, while innocent people get hurt!

The young pokemon trainer, unfazed by Nikki's wrath, laid a hand on her. "Relax Nikki. I mean no one is panicking right now, so maybe we should just eat something and..."

But the trainer was interrupted, when suddely a large crowd of people ran past them, while screaming in fear. Nikki shot him a glare, while Damian smiled sheepishly.

"Weeeeell I'm going to call the cops.", he said embarassed and took out his phone. While he called the police over it, Nikki suddenly saw Teddiursa coming out of the Pokemon Center and then ran down to the street, that lead to the beach of Cherrygrove City. She immediately tucked Damian at his shirt.

"What is it now? I'm trying to call for help, for Arceus sake!", he said exasperated. Nikki only pointed at the running Tediursa. "A Tediursa? What is it doing there?", he wondered.

Suddenly a group of three pokemon consisting of a Gastly, a Shuppet and an Oddish came out from the Pokemon Center and followed the Tediursa. Both trainers couldn't believe what they saw.

"Our pokemon!", Damian shouted. "We need to follow them!" With that he ran past Nikki and went after the group.

"Hey wait up for me!", Nikki exclaimed and followed the boy.

A few minutes later, they finally reached the beach. They both were at the entrance of it and saw a large path of stones leading to the water. The group of pokemon was already there, looking around the area as if they searched for something. Damian immediately ran to Shuppet, glaring at his partner. When the ghost pokemon turned around however, he seemed to be completely unfazed by the rage, that was written on Damian's face.

"What the heck did you think, when you started to run away?! I told you to stay at the pokemon center! What are you doing here anyway?! How did you manage to convice the other pokemon, to follow you?!", Damian exclaimed angrily.

Shuppet only shook its head sighing. "Tediursa ran away because of the explosion, so the others and me started to follow that bear until we reached the beach." It looked around to see any sign of the missing pokemon, but except a few sunshades, red-white beach balls and sun loungers, there was no sign of the bear pokemon.

Damian scratched his head embarassed. "Yeah maybe I was a bit too harsh to you then. Let's look for that Tediursa.", he said confidently. Since the pokemon went to this place, it must be around somewhere. But where? Damian turned to Nikki, who was at the moment scolding Gastly for running away. Gastly himself seemed to be scared for the first time, as it muttered words like "I'm sorry!" or "It wasn't my fault!". "Nikki, do you have any idea, where your Tediursa could be ?", Damian asked.

The blonde girl shook her head. "I don't know. I lost sight of my pokemon, when I saw the others leaving the Pokemon Center.", she said sadly. Nikki looked around and then looked really confused. "Strange.", she muttered.

"Is something wrong?", Damian asked as he watched Nikki looking around the beach once again.

Nikki shook her head. "I don't know. But wasn't there smoke and fire just now? I mean it only took us five minutes to get here, so both of them should still be here. So where did it go?", she asked herself, while playing with her hair.

Damian nodded thoughtfully. "You're right. Where did the smoke and the fire go? Maybe..."

But before the boy could finish his sentence, a dark beam hit Shuppet straight in the face. "Shuppet!", Damian cried out and ran to his partner. "Are you alright?", he asked as he kneeled over his pokemon. This was the second time today, that Shuppet was attacked. First by Oddish and now from... What exactly?

"Look Damian, behind you!", Oddish exclaimed fearfully.

The boy turned around and immediately let out a scream. In front of him was a big green creature. It had spikes all over its body and in the middle of its belly was something that looked like a big mouth with grey teeth. The creature smirked at Damian, took a deep breath and fired hot flames from its mouth. Damian barely safed himself by jumping on the right.

"This a Tyrannitar!", exclaimed Nikki scared. "One of the most dangerous pokemon, that are known! But where is its trainer?" She then looked around and saw two black suited people, with a big **RA** on their chest, approaching them. One of them held a cage, where you could see a pokemon trapped in it.

It was a Tediursa.

"Tediursa!", Nikki exclaimed angrily. "What are you doing to my pokemon?!"

One of the two black suited figures laughed nasty. "It is not your pokemon anymore. Now it belongs to us, Team Rocket! Are you scared now?"

Damian slowly got up and looked to the black suited figures. "Who the heck is Team Rocket? Some kind of LARP players?", he asked confused.

Both of the two grunts looked at the boy, as if they just saw a ghost. "You don't know us?! We're Team Rocket! We steal pokemon, we make children cry and we like to be evil!", they both said together while pointing at their RA on their uniforms.

Gabe however only started to laugh. "What, that's all? And I thought you were actually dangerous! I mean, being mean and making children cry? You're the worst villains a fanfiction could probably have!", he said while laughing. "Shuppet use Knock Off on that Tyranhita, or what ever its name was."

Shuppet nodded slowly, stood up, charged at Tyranitar and hit it straight in the belly. But the opposing pokemon didn't even move one bit. Damian stared confused at his pokemon. "Why didn't that attack do anything?!", he asked bewildered.

Nikki only groaned. "Tyranitar is part dark type. Because Knock Off is a dark type move, Tyranitar resists it.", she explained annoyed. "Clearly you must at least know that much!"

The grunts started to laugh. "Oh wow, I never thought I'd be this easy!", the grunt on the right said smirking. "You will get it now boy!" The grunt took out a pokeball and released a large blue dragon looking pokemon out of it, while the other grunt called the Tyranitar back. They both then jumped on the blue dragon pokemon, as it flew up in the air. "Go Electrode army, destroy these two kids! We have to bring our boss another pokemon!" Tediursa scratched at the cage bar, attempting to flee. But it was all for naught, as the criminals flew away while saying "Team Rocket blast off again!"

"Tediursa!", Nikki exclaimed with tears in her eyes. Damian put a hand on her shoulder, attempting to comfort her.

"We'll get Tediursa back. That I promise!", he said determined. Shuppet and Oddish only nodded, while Gastly came closer to its trainer. But before anyone could say a thing, suddenly there was a loud static noise. "What was that?!", Damian asked scarded. Nikki, still with tears in her eyes, pointed at the white-red beach balls. The balls suddenly had a big smile and Damian slowly realized that those were not balls. Those balls were actually a group of Electrodes, who were known for exploding all the time. Damian knew because of them, because of the Johto Power Plant where his dad worked. The group of Electrodes smirked and then started all to shake.

"They're using explosion.", Nikki muttered slowly. "We need to get out."

But she didn't move. Neither did the trainer's pokemon and Damian. It's as if someone paralyzed them by using Thunder Wave.

**BOOOM!**

All of the Electrodes exploded at the same time and a force wave hit the two trainers and their pokemon really hard. They flew a few metres away from the beach, until they landed straight on the street. Before Damian lost his consciousness, he could see a red haired man, with a grey suit, slowly approaching him.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10 Morty

Damian slowly opened his eyes and then realized, that he was laying in a bed. He looked to the right side and saw Nikki, who had already woken up, sitting on her bed, watching Damian. When she saw that the boy awoke, she smiled lightly.

"Ah you're also alright. I thought I was the only lucky one.", she said. "I mean that one attack hit us really hard."

Damian slowly nodded and then realized that his pokemon were missing. "Where are we? Where are our pokemon?", he asked confused. "Did they..."

Nikki sighed concerned. "We are in the hospital. Someone called an ambulance while we were unconscious. And our Pokemon are mostly alright.", she said with a light smile.

The boy looked at the girl sceptical. "What do you mean with "mostly?", he asked. Did something happen with one of his pokemon?

"Well since explosion was a normal type move, Gastly and Shuppet are alright. But Oddish was hit pretty hard. If I remember correctly, Gastly and Shuppet went to the Pokemon Center, where Oddish currently gets treatement.", she explained frowning.

After she spoke the words, Damian immediatley got up and went to the door.

"Where are you going Damie?!", Nikki asked. "We need to rest!"

Damian turned around and faced Nikki angrily. "Listen, Oddish is hurt! I can't just sit there and wait till something happens! Name me one good reason, why I should stay here and "rest"!"

Suddenly a different voice spoke up behind him. "Because there is no need to worry Damian."

Confused, the pokemon trainer turned around and gasped as he saw the red haired man, that trained with him before the match against Nikki. "You.", he said surprised.

The man clapped happily. "Yup it's me. You should be lucky that I was around, when I found you. Otherwise you might even be dead!", he replied smilling.

Nikki looked at the man confused. "You look familliar.", she said slowly. She saw that man before, she knew it. But where?

The red haired person laughed. "Yeah I look pretty sexy, but I haven't met you before my dear."

Damian looked out from the window. He could see the Pokemon Center from it, where Oddish was probably treated. "Oddish.", he muttered.

In a sudden the man laid a hand on the boy. "Don't be sad. I was already there. From what I've heard, your Oddish is alright. Some injuries, but it should be fine by tommorow. There were also two ghost pokemon. Do they belong to you two?"

The two trainers nodded and the man sighed.

"How nice of them. Anyway, how did the explosion even start? Did you played with Electrodes or what?"

Nikki looked up to him slightly smiling. "It was more like the other way around.", she said. Then she told the red haired man everything that had happened so far.

After she finished, the man looked at her shocked. "Team Rocket is back!? Again?! Do theses idiots never quit or what?", he said exasperated. Damian turned to the man and watched him with a curious gaze. "Who is Team Rocket anyway? Are they some kind of terrorists?"

The man shook his head. "Apparently they are now. Team Rocket used to be a criminal organisation, that captured pokemon, to sell them for money. But 33 years ago, a young trainer named Red defeated the team, so it disbanded. The second time when they appeared, was 30 years ago. This time a young boy named Ethan defeated them. You may know him as the current champ of Johto."

Nikki stared at the man surprised. "My father? He never told me about how he defeated Team Rocket.", she said surprised."Did they capture the two Team Rocket grunts by the way?" The man only shook his head.

"From what I've heard, no one was arrested after the explosion. Why do you ask kid?"

Nikki only looked down sadly. "They captured my Tediursa.", she replied. The red haired man looked surprised.

"What? Team Rocket actually managed to defeat you? Were their Rattata and Zubat too strong?", he asked with a raised eyebrow. The male pokemon trainer turned around and looked to the adult confused.

"Rattata and Zubat? No they had some big green dinosaur thing and a blue dragon with red wings.", he replied.

The man took a few steps back, surprised about Damian's answer. His face had the expression of fear, something that neither of the trainers ever saw before. "They had a Tyranitar and a Salamence!? But how did they got a hold of these?! Team Rocket can't be that competent!", he said shocked.

"What do you mean by that?", Damian asked. The man ignored his question and then walked towards the door again.

"The doctors said that you will be released tomorrow. Same goes for Oddish. For now, you should just rest. It is 10 pm after all. If you want to catch the next train to Violet City, then you better be ready. I already bought some train tickets for you, so no need to worry about that.", he said smiling, then took out two tickets and gave them to Damian. While the boy smiled because of the gift, Nikki looked more sceptical.

"How do you know about that we want to go to Violet City by the way?", she asked. The man only shrugged.

"Just a gut feeling. Anyway I will take my leave now. Oh and by the way, you can call me Morty.", he said while clapping with his hands. He then went through the door and left the room.

"Why does that man look so familiar to me?", Nikki asked herself. Damian turned to his companion and gave a smile.

"We shouldn't worry about it. For now we should rest. Our pokemon are safe, so no need to worry."

With that, Damian let himself fall on the bed and fell asleep immediately. Nikki let out a short sigh and then did the same.

**_At the Pokemon Center_**

Oddish laid on a big table with wires attached to his head. The room they were in was small and it had a yellow floor, along with many computers that the wires were connected. Before the big table stood (or rather levitated) Gastly and Shuppet.

"How long is it going to take?", asked Gastly concerned. Even though he and Oddish were arguing before, he didn't want the pokemon to get hurt. Shuppet let out a big sigh.

"According to Nurse Joy, she should be completely healthy by tomorrow. We shouldn't worry so much.", it responded. The other ghost pokemon nodded.

"Yeah you're probably right.", it said looking down. Shuppet realized something was wrong, as he felt a scent of negativity coming from Gastly. He inhaled it and started to smile.

How delicious., it thought. But then when the pokemon looked at Gastly, it thought it should say something.

"Something wrong? I feel negativity coming from you. Pretty tasty.", it said. Gastly chuckled.

"So that's why I'm feeling relieved.", it said. "I can't still accept the fact that those clowns took away Tediursa."

Shuppet looked surprised to his companion. "I thought you couldn't stand her.", it asked confused. The ghost pokemon nodded at its response.

"She was so annoying. But then again, Nikki immediately loved it, when we caught her. He won't like it, when he hears that she lost against a trainer. Maybe even more when we lost against you."

After these words, Shuppet looked confused to the poison pokemon. "What do you mean with "he won't like it"?

Gastly shook its head. "Mind you own business AG. I'll go back to Nikki." And with that, it left the room leaving Shuppet alone with the unconscious Oddish. And then...

Silence. The only sounds were the beeping of the heart monitor, next to the table. Shuppet sighed and then also went to the door. Before he left the room however, it muttered "I hope you will feel better by tomorrow.", while looking at Oddish. Then it also left the room.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11 Trainride**

"I'm happy to tell you, that your Oddish is healthy again. Please visit us again!", said Sister Joy, while bowing. Damian smiled and took the pokeball that contained Oddish. He was glad that his pokemon was alright again. Sleep and rest did help the pokemon.

"Thank you very much!", Damian replied happily. "Now the journey can continue!" He then went to Nikki who was waiting at the entrance of the Pokemon Center along with Shuppet and Gastly.

"Glad to see that your pokemon is alright.", Nikki said smiling. "We should get going. The train is going to leave in half an hour." She then took out a pokeball and called back Gastly. Damian looked surprised at his companion. Why was she withdrawing Gastly?"Pokemon should be in their pokeballs on the train. You better do the same.", she explained. Damian slowly nodded and then took out Shuppet's pokeball. The ladder glared at its trainer.

"Oh no! I'm not going into that thing again! Do you have any idea how much space there is?! I can't move!", it said angry. The young pokemon trainer sighed.

"I know you don't like it. But rules are rules.", he replied sadly and withdrew Shuppet, before it could protest any further. He then turned to Nikki. "Alright, which way should we go?", he asked.

Nikki took her backpack off, opened it and took out a map. "According to this map, we have to go from the Pokemon Center to the west. And then we should be there." Damian smiled. "Well then what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

As the two left the building, they didn't realize that they were watched by a Team Rocket grunt, who hid behind a tree. He took out a walkie-talkie and activated it. "Here is Agent 342. The two targets survived the attack and are now heading to the Train Staion of Cherrygrove City. Should I kill them now or later?" The response came immediately as a corrupted voice.

"No, we will not harm them unless they interfere. We already beat them once, so even if they were going after us, they won't be much of a problem. Just watch them. Understood?" The grunt nodded.

"Understood sir!", he replied and then turned the device off as he watched the two trainers leaving him.

A few minutes later, the two trainers arrived at the train station. It was a big grey building that looked more new than the rest of the town. On the roof there was a sign that read "Cherrygrove City Train Station". "Welp we should head in, before we miss our train.", Damian said. His companion nodded and then they both entered the building. They went through a long hallway full of people running, talking or just standing and sitting. Damian never saw so many people at one place before. Back in New Bark Town, there weren't many people since it was only a small town compared to Cherrygrove City. Are there other cities like Cherrygrove City in Johto, but only bigger? Maybe...

"Damian, our train leaves in 5 minutes. We have to go!", said Nikki all of as sudden. The boy looked at first suprised at the girl, but then quickly understood. They then ran to a counter, where a man stood.

"Welcome at the Train Station!", the man replied happily. If you want to take the train to Violet City, then I'll need your ticket!" The two trainers gave the man the tickets. "Ah good. The train leaves on the 6th departure platform. This way please.", he said while pointing through an elevator behind him. The two trainers went past him and entered it. When they were in the elevator, Nikki pressed a button and the act started to go downstairs.

"Wait why are we going upstairs?", Damian asked confused. Nikki only sighed and shook her head. "Have you ever heard of an underground station? The train is going to drive under the earth till it reaches the next station." Damian shook his head. "Never heard of it. I never left New Bark Town before. This is the first time that I actually heard of an "underground." Nikki looked at her companion surprised. "What? Why didn't they let you leave?", she asked. Damian only shrugged.

"I dunno. Maybe they were afraid that I'd hurt myself.", he replied casually. Then the door opened andd the two trainers stood in front of a big white train.

"All passengers, aboard!", the conductor shouted through his microphone. "The train is going to leave within minutes!" The two trainers then went into the train. Well, not immediately. Many people were leaving the train through the doors and every passenger (including our two protagonists) had trouble getting into the doors. Finally after a long fight, the two companions finally entered the train and immediately sat on a bench next to a window.

"Man is it always so full in here?", Damian asked as he rubbed his arm. One of the passengers actually hit him with a crowbar, just to get into the train. However to his surprise, Nikki was laughing. "What's so funny?"

Nikki stopped herself from lauighing and failed horribly. "Oh Damie, believe me. This is just harmless. You should see it yourself, when we take a train to Goldenrod City. Last time, someone got even killed!", she said giggling. The pokemon trainer though couldn't understand the humor of the girl. Since when was death funny? Before he could say anything though, a message came out of the speaker.

"The train is going to start now. It is advised to use your seatbelts.", the voice of the conductor said.

"What does he mean by..." Before Damian could answer he suddenly felt a lot of pressure as the train raced with immense speed through the tunnel. Before Damian fell unconscious (again) he saw that Nikki sat with her seatbelt on while she giggled.

A few minutes later, Gabe woke up again and saw that he was still on the train. He looked to Nikki who was reading a magazine. It had a picture of a purple Snake with the Label "Rettan Competitive Guide". "What are you reading there?", Damian asked, while rubbing his eyes. His companion looked up from the newspaper and smiled.

"Ah you're awake again. I'm just reading a magazine of Rettan. They give some battle tips you know.", she replied. The boy looked at the magazine confused.

"Can I have the magazine please?", he asked. Nikki shrugged slightly.

"Sure. Just don't break it.", she said with a teasing tone and handed the magazine over to her "friend". Damian took the magazine and looked through its pages. He saw pictures of pokemon he didn't even know existed. There was a big orange creature with clouds and also a blue figure with a longe tongue. He also read the text curiously.

"Landorus T and Greninja are two major threats in the metagame. Both hit incredibly hard and are versataile, such as Landorus T who can be played defensive or offensive and Greninja who can run a spikes set or that of a mixed attacker. If you see these pokemon in the battle, switch to a counter like Mega Manetric against Greninja or Greninja with protean and Ice Beam against Lando.""

"I've never seen such pokemon before.", Damian said. "Is it a legendary?" Nikki sighed and took the magazine back.

"You obviously know nothing about Pokemon.", she said and dived her head into the magazine again, while her companion was confused by her sudden rudeness. Suddenly a boy came along and stood next to the seats where Nikki and Damian sat. He wore a red shirt and also had a green beanie that covered his hair. His trousers were grey and he had a pokeball in his hand.

"Hey, are you pokemon trainers?", he asked nervously, while rubbing his neck. Before Damian could answer anything, his companion cut in. "We're trainer so what?! Got a problem with that?!", she snapped. The boy went a few steps back with rairsed hands.

"Hey calm down please. I just need to borrow a pokemon from you."

That was the last straw for Nikki. She stood up, grabbed the collar of the strange boy and pushed him against the wall. "I'm not going to give a noob like you any of my pokemon.", she hissed menacingly. Damian immediately stood up and grabbed Nikki at her wrist.

"What are you doing?! He just asked you something!", he said confused. What just happened to the girl? Before they entered the train she was still fine, but since he woke up Damian noticed that the girl was more rude than usual. Nikki first glared at her companion then let the boy fall on the ground.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me.", she said. "Anyway why do you need our pokemon?" The boy slowly got up and starred at the girl with a look of fear.

"Some boy named Joey stole my Torchic and he wants to battle against me in a few minutes. But I don't have any other pokemon with me, so that's why I wanted to borrow one. So can I please have one of your pokemon?"

Damian then shook his head. "Battling on a train? Can you really do that?", he asked. The strange by nodded.

"There is a waggon for pokemon battles. That's where I'm supposed to meet him.", he replied, while grabbing hsi wrist slightly. Before Damian could answer, Nikki responded to the boy.

"I'm not borrowing you my pokemon. But I can fight for you if that is ok.", she said smilling. Surprised, the strange boy looked to her. So did Damian. Why did she suddelny want to help him?

"I can't stand thieves.", she continued. "My Tediursa was stolen by Team Rocket and I don't want anyone to suffer the same as I did. See it as a way to make up for me attacking you." The boy smiled at her.

"Thank you girl! We should get going then, if you want to win. By the way, my name is Micheal.", he said happily and gave a thumbs up pose. Gabe then apporached the boy. "Nice to meet you. My name is Gabe and this is my friend Nikki.", he said and then looked surprised as Nikki suddelny shruddered slightly. Micheal didn't seem to see it though.

"Nice to meet ya too. Now come on we have to go!", he said and then walked through the corridor, while Damian and Nikki followed him.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12 The Tactical Bruiser takes action

Damian, Nikki were both following Gabe through the light corridor of the train. A boy had stolen Gabe's pokemon, because he lost a battle and now Nikki wants to fight against the thief, to win back Gabe's Torchic. After a few minutes, they arrived at a door that said: "Battle Wagon: Battle against everyone here!". "So this is the part of the train, where you can fight other pokemon trainers?", asked Damian curiously. Gabe nodded.

"Yes. It is a long ride usually on the train, so you need to do something during that time.", Gabe replied shrugging. Nikki then went ahead of Gabe and opened the door.

"We should get going. You want your pokemon back, right?", she asked with a certain tone in her voice, that Damian couldn't quite understand. The three then entered the door and reached a room. There were chairs on each side of the room with an arena in the middle. There you could see a big yellow looking Pokemon with two tails punching a chicken-like pokemon. Behind it, was a big man. He was bald, wore only a pair of blue shorts and was really fat.

"Torchic no! Please stop!", Gabe exclamed fearfully. The man turned around and then smirked as he saw the three trainers.

"Ah Gabey the baby is back! Ready to be pummeled again?", he asked maliciously. Before Gabe could respond, Nikki went in front of the big man with her hands on her hips. The man's taunting expression disapeared and was replaced by a surprised one. "Who are you?", he asked confused. "Get away! Pokemon Battles are only for real men like me and not for some stupid girls!"

Nikki looked like as if she was about to explode. She clenched her fist and it started to shake. Before she could lash out at the man though, Damian put a hand on her shoulder. "Just calm yourself. Tell him why you're here.", he said reassuring. Nikki nodded, closed her eyes, took a deep breath and then opened them again.

"I will not leave this room, because I will be your opponent.", she said calm. "I mean, I'm just a girl. You wouldn't have any problem beating me, now would you?" She smirked and walked down to the arena. The man at first looked taken back by the sudden appearance of the girl, but then he started to laugh.

"Oh really? That's rich! Do you know who I am?! I'm the King! I am the best pokemon trainer out there! With my Electivire, which is of course the best pokemon in the Tier, I stomp my opponents to the ground and then beat them up till I'm satisfied! Right buddy?" He turned around to Electivire, which let out a loud laugh. Nikki only sighed and shook her head.

"You're one to talk. But are you not only capable of bragging, but also of winning? I'd really like to see you try.", she said smirking and took out her pokeball. "I challenge you to a Pokemon Battle!" The fat man laughed, took a pokeball out and called the Torchic back. "Fine. Let's start. So..."

But before he could continue, Nikki raised her hand. "How about we make this battle a bit more intersting? If I win you have to give Gabe his Torchic back. If I lose however, you can take my pokemon." Damian immediatley ran to her and looked at her as if he saw a ghost.

"Nikki, are you crazy?! You're Gastly is the only pokemon you have! Do you really want to risk it?", he asked bewildered, but the girl just ignored him. Instead, she threw her pokeball and Gastly appeared on the field.

"Bring it on, will you!", she yelled and pumped her fist. The man gave a smirk and then turned to another man, who was shorter and actually wore some clothes. The other man nodded to Nikki's opponent, stood up from his chair and then went to the right side of the arena.

"A new pokemon battle will commence, between a girl and Sebastian.", he said tiredly and yawned. "Each opponent may only use one pokemon and the battle is over, until one of the pokemon have fainted. The battle may begin!"

Sebastian let out a loud laugh and then pointed to Electivre. "Go Electivre! Stomp this lass to pieces, so I can have fun with her! And then you can also have that pokemon as another toy!", he said with a smirk. The pokemon smirked as well and replied with: "Don't worry boss, I will beat this Gastly to a pulp!" (although only Damian could hear it, as it came out as a growl for the other people in the room).

Nikki looked to Gastly with a stern face. "Listen we may have lost once, but we can't lose again or dad will get even more angry at me!", she said determined. "We can't lose this!" Damian looked surprised at his companion. What did she just say? Her dad is going to be even more angry at her? What did she mean by that? Her Gastly only nodded and then faced its opponent again.

The battle has begun.

**Nikki vs Sebastian**

"Go Gastly, attack with Sludge Wave!", Nikki yelled. Gastly opened its mouth and released a wave of purple liquid on Electivire. Sebastian though, seemed unfazed.

"What are you waiting for?! Use Double Team!", he yelled and suddenly there were more versions of Electivire on the field. Damian was about to ask how that is possible, but Gabe put a hand on his shoulder.

"This is Double Team. The opponent is able to replicate itself, to doge the attacks. Damian looked shocked and saw as the Sludge Wave of Gastly hit plenty of the replicas, who then vanished. But none of them were the real Electivre.

"Now, use Thunder Punch!", Sebastian demanded smirking and the Electivire charged at Gastly and hit it straight in the face. The ghost pokemon flew on the ground, electricity coming out from it.

"Gastly!", Nikki yelled in fear. She then looked to Sebastian angrily. "What was that?! You can't use Double Team! Rettan has forbidden it!" The fat man only laughed, as he laid a hand on his belly.

"Those Rettan idiots can kiss my Magikarp! The Ref. has no problem with it, so shut up!", he said and turned to the smaller man, who only nodded in fear. Nikki sniffed at the comment of her opponent and glared at him annoyed.

"Oh really? Well I show you why they call me "The Tactical Bruiser"! Gastly use Will-O-Wisp!" Gastly nodded at its trainer and then realized a small flame from its mouth. It hit the Electivire, who then started to burn the flames spreading all over its body as it screamed in pain. Sebastian however only laughed confidently.

"That's it? I don't know what your Will-O-Something is, but it doesn't matter! Electivire use Thunder Punch again!" Elecitivire punched Gastly again, but with less force this time. Gastly didn't seem to be affected at all and smirked. It didn't take a second for Sebastian, to replace his smile with a frown.

"What the hell?! Why didn't that do so much!", he demanded as he looked at his opponent. The ladder raised her head and smirked.

"If a pokemon is burned, then its pyhsical attack will be weakened. In other words, your Evire is much weaker now!", she said proudly, while Damian was speechless. The girl just turned the entire situation around and now it seems like she has the upper hand! But how? Was his last win against her pure luck? He turned to Gabe, who looked as surprised as he did. Nikki smirked and then pointed at Electivire.

"All right! Gastly use Sludge Wave!" The ghost pokemon fired again the wave of purple liquid on Electivire. But this time he didn't use Double Team, as Sebastian still was shocked from the events that just transpired. The wave hit the electro pokemon straight and it yelled in pain and looked at its trainer scared. The ladder didn't seem to know what he should do as he just shouted: "Tackle!" Electivire charged at Gastly but ran straight through it. Nikki only shook her head in amusement, as Sebastian looked even more shocked and desperate.

"Gastly is a ghost pokemon, you Dunsparce. Normal-Type-Attacks don't affect it. And I thought a pokemon "master" as you should know it. But either way..." She gave a wide smirk. "Time for your beating. Gastly, use Shadow Ball over and over again!" Gastly fired many dark balls at Electivire and all of them hit it straight in the face. It tried to hold its balance, but fell down immediately.

"Electivire is unable to batte. Sebastian has lost!", the referee said smilling. He seemed happy for the loss. Sebastian sank on his knees and then started to cry. Nikki went to him and looked at him down smirking.

"I won. Now give Gabe his pokemon back.", she said with her hands on her hips. Sebastian nodded slowly and gave her the pokeball, that contained the Torchic of Gabe. Nikki took it and went to the two boys. "Here I believe it belongs to you.", she said and gave the pokeball to Gabe, who had a wide smile on his face. He opened the pokeball and released a red chicken-like pokemon.

"Torchic I missed you so much!", he said as he hugged the pokemon tightly, while his Torchic squeaked happily. Then, Gabe turned to Nikki. "Thank you so much! With out you, I'd never got my Torchic back!" He then looked at his wristwatch and shrieked in panic. "Oh, my mother must be wondering where I am! I gotta go! See you guys!", he said and ran out of the room. Then all of a sudden a voice came from the speaker.

"We will reach Violet City in a few seconds. Please be ready to leave the train.", the voice said. Nikki then looked to her companion and smiled.

"Well, what are you waiting for? We reached the next town!" Damian only nodded slightly, which made Nikki confused. "What's wrong? You look different than usual?" Damian shook his head. Now he was the one acting different?! This girl had some nerve!

"No it's nothing. We should leave the train.", he said and then left the room. Nikki looked at her Gastly, who was just as puzzled as she was, called it back into the pokeball and then left the room.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13 Violet City**

The two trainers left the train station and Gabe gazed at the sign that said:

**"Welcome to Violet City! The city of Bellsprout!**

"Bellsprout? Is that a pokemon?", Gabe asked, curiosity in his eyes. Nikki, who was holding one of her Rettan Magazines turned around and smiled.

"Oh yes. They evolve into Victreebell, a pokemon that is also AG. Apparently, they worship Bellsprout as a special pokemon. I believe it is because of those monks in the Bellsprout Tower.", she said and then shook her head amused. "The monks train with them the whole day, as they believe they get stronger by doing that. Can you believe that bullshit?" Her companion shook his head and then they both left the train station.

When they got out, Damian saw a big building in the north of the city. It was a giant stadium which was mostly red except of the sign that said:

**Violet City Gym**

"So this is the place where you can get a badge right?", Damian said in awe as he looked over to the gym. "But why does the sign have two wings?" Indeed there were two wings above the sign. They were white and had a feather design.

"Oh right. I forgot to tell you this is a flying type gym. That's why they're wings on the sign.", she explained. Damian nodded slightly. He already knew that there are several types of pokemon with each of their strengths and weaknesses. Looking to the gym again, Nikki smiled. "We should get going. It is still early, so we should challenge the gym as soon as possible." She then went ahead on her way to the gym, but Damian put a hand on her shoulder.

"Shouldn't we first go to the Pokemon Center and then challenge the gym?", he asked with a sceptical frown. "I mean you went all out during that battle in the train. Shouldn't you and Gastly, I dunno, rest?" Nikki shook her head and stared at her companion as if he ate a rare candy.

"Ha! That battle was really easy! Believe me that wimp doesn't know anything about pokemon in general. He just tried to spam double team and that's it! Now come on, we need to beat the gym!" And with those words she sprinted to the gym. "Hey wait for me!", Damian said as he tried to catch up with her.

A few minutes later, the two trainers arrived at the red big building. However when the two tried to enter it, a man appeared out of the entrance. He was three heads taller than Damian wore a black biker jacket, with a pair of broken pants and looked as buff as a Machamp. When he noticed the two trainers, he roared all of a sudden.

"What are you kids doing here?! You can't enter the gym, a battle just started!", he shouted with a deep voice and his yellow hear glowed as he spoke. "You are not entering this gym, till ya are qualified. Got it?!"

Both Damian and Nikki only stared at the man in shock, obviously intimated by the person. Damian was the first to say something in return. "We'll then what do we need to do, to be qualified Mr..."

"It's Carlos!", the man interrupted the trainer. "My name is Carlos and I check whether you are qualified to enter this gym! And I'm not letting some clowns like you enter the gym!"

Her face red of rage, Nikki stepped towards the man. "We are qualified! Do you know who I even am? I'm Nikki, the tactical bruiser! I'm more than enough qualified to enter this goddamned gym!", she snapped with her hands on her hips. Carlos was unfazed however and let out a big roar. Nikki flinched and hid behind her companion.

"I don't care if ya are some "bruiser", so listen up! You can only challenge Falkner, if you pass the test in the Bellsprout tower! Got it?" Damian and Nikki slowly nodded and then Carlos reentered the gym and shut the door with brute force. The boy slowly looked to Nikki, who still looked just as scared as he was.

" Maybe we should go to the Pokémon Center first.", he said and the girl slowly nodded in agreement.

A few minutes later, they both were in one of the guest rooms of the Pokémon Center. The room wasn't really big and had two red beds, with a big table in front of them and a door that led to a small bathroom. Gabe was sitting on his bed along with Shuppet and Oddish, while Nikki and Gastly looked out from the window.

"I swear if I meet that jerk again, I'm going to pummel that bastard till he cries like a Wishiwashi! Who does he think he is to just throw us out?!", Nikki exclaimed angrily. "I mean I am known as the Tactical Bruiser, so he has to let me in! Right Gastly?" The ghost pokemon only nodded. Damian however was mostly quiet and didn't reply to anything. Nikki turned around and looked at her companion with a raised eyebrow. "Hey, why are you so quiet?", she asked concerned.

The boy didn't reply anything and smiled. "Nothing. Was just in deep thought that's all.", he replied with a shrug. He then stood up and went to the door that led to the hallway. "We should get going. If we want to challenge the Gym, we should finish that test soon enough." Nikki nodded at the response slightly.

"Well, good. I'll be changing into some clothes, that I packed in my bag and will then catch up with you. You can wait in the hallway, till I'm finished." Gabe nodded and then left the room along with Shuppet and Oddish

"What's wrong human?", Shuppet asked all of a sudden as they waited in the big red hallway. Damian shook his head and then looked at his two pokemon amused.

"What are you talking about? I'm okay.", he answered and forced a smile on his face. But both his pokemon shook their heads.

"You don't really look okay.", Oddish answered worried. "I mean, you're basically just forcing a smile." Shuppet nodded in response.

"Exactly. I can smell your emotions. Anger and sadness. Now what is wrong with you?" Damian sighed and then looked on the ground.

"Nikki fought against someone on the train. She really did beat that guy easily.", he said. Oddish's expression changed from worried to confused.

"So she won against someone? Is that the problem?" Damian shook his head at its response.

"Not that. It's just that the opponent is just as unexperienced as I am. What if that battle where we won against her was just because she let us win?" For a moment everything was quiet. Only the vehicles from outside the building filled it with sound. Shuppet however shook its head.

"I don't believe that. She really did use everything against us, because I sensed frustration from her when she lost. The last time you brought up the fight was also like that. Her frustration really tastes like chocolate by the way.", it said as it licked its lips. Damian and Oddish then broke out in a laughter.

" Really? Then that explains why I heard a moaning from your pokeball.", Damian replied chuckling. "Thanks for that Shuppet. I needed that." Shuppet only looked away.

"Don't get used to it human.", it replied but Oddish continued to chuckle.

"Oh are you blushing?", she teased and Shuppet only groaned with annoyance.

Then the door opened and Nikki came out. This time, she wore a dark grey hoodie, that had the face of a Spiritomb on it and a pair of black trousers. "What were you laughing about?", she asked Damian with a smile. Damian looked around the room nervously. He can't just tell her that he laughed with his pokemon.

"I was laughing about that trainer on the train. That dude really was a show off.", he said and let out a fake laugh. Nikki seemed to buy the excuse and laughed along.

"Yeah that guy really was a show off." Damian then looked at her and then tried to resist his chuckle.

"What is that thing you're wearing? You look like a boy!", he said and Nikki just laid her hands on her hips with a confused expression.

"What? I just like those hoodies. They're way more comfortable than dresses. I mean my black outfit is nice and all, but sometimes I feel better wearing boy clothes, that's all.", she replied confused. Damian slowly nodded, while still having his hand covering his mouth to prevent himself from chuckling.

" Yeah fine. Let's go to the Bellsprout Tower.", he said happily and ran away with his Shuppet and Oddish to the door that led to the waiting room of the Pokémon Center.

"Hey wait up for me!", Nikki said as she and her Gastly tried to catch up with him.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14 The Bellsprout-Tower-Challenge

In front of the two trainers, was now a big tower. It looked really old compared to the modern part of Violet City and was entirely made out of wood. To the surprise of Damian, the tower even seemed to shake slowly from left to right. Damian couldn't help but to be nervous. Was this tower even safe to climb?

"This is where the test is supposed to be?", Damian asked nervously as he looked at the tower. "Are you really sure this is the Bellsprout Tower?"

Nikki, who looked just as terrified as Damian, left out a sigh and took out a map from her bag. "Sorry, but according to the map, this is the Bellsprout Tower." Annoyed, she shook her head. "Of all the places where they could test us, why does it have to be some old tower? Couldn't we just armwrestle? I definitely would have won.", she said as she pumped her fist. Damian first looked down on the floor and then lifted it up again while forcing a smile.

"I know we both don't want to enter that tower, but we have no choice if we even want to enter the gym.", he said slowly. Nikki nodded hesitantly.

Taking both a deep breath, the two trainers slowly approached the entrance of the tower. In front of the entrance was a man, wearing Grey robes and having a shaved head. When he saw the two teenagers, he bowed before them.

"Welcome to the Bellsprout Tower. My name is Bansai, a humble monk of this holy building. How may I help you?", he asked politely. Damian stepped forward and flashed a big smile.

"Hello Mr. Bansai! I'm Damian and this is my friend Nikki.", he said and didn't realize that Nikki slightly flinched behind him with a blush on her face. "We want to challenge the Violet City Gym, but we were told that we first have to do a test here, until we can challenge Falkner." The monk nodded slightly.

"I see. Then would you please be so kind to follow me?", he said and entered the building, while the two pokemon trainers followed him. They then reached a dark hallway, where the only light source was the light that came from the end of a ladder.

"You have to climb the tower with your pokemon.", the monk explained. "On every floor there will be a challenge. You have to win it, in order to continue to the next floor. Understand?" The two trainers nodded. "Good. May Bellsprout help you on your way." He bowed again and then climbed up the ladder. Damian and Nikki shot glances at each other and then climbed it up as well.

After they had reached the end of the ladder, they climbed out from it and entered the first floor. It looked just as empty as the main one, except this one was full of smoke. Both of the trainers started to cough.

"What is the test? Surviving in a room full of smoke?", Nikki exclaimed coughing. "I swear whoever had this idea probably ate too much rare candys!" Damian tried to say something in return, but couldn't because of the coughing. In a sudden there was the voice of the monk.

"Your first test is simple. You have to find the ladder in this room full of smoke. Each of you will need a pokemon for that. Climb up the ladder when you reach it. Good luck." Then the voice disappeared as sudden as it appeared. Niki and Gabe slowly took out their poke balls and freed Shuppet and Gastly.

"Shuppet, do you know where the ladder is?", Damian asked coughing. However Shuppet shook its head and looked on the floor, grunting in pain.

"Sorry but I can't help you. I'm allergic to smoke.", it replied weakly. It coughed again and then forced its eyes open to look at Gastly, who was laughing with delight.

"Ha! What's wrong? Did the author of this fanfic decide to give you another weakness? Luckily for me, my kind is nocturnal, so seeing through smoke is not a problem for me.", it said smugly and then started to move through the smoke. Nikki smiled and looked to Damian confident.

"Gastly found a way out! I knew you could do it my ghost ball! Just shows again that Gastly's evolution line is one of the best ghost type pokemon.", she said and then followed her pokemon. Damian looked to Shuppet disappointed.

"You can't see through smoke? That's stupid.", he said and then moved along. Shuppet rolled its eyes and then followed its trainer.

After a few minutes, they finally reached the ladder, where the monk was already waiting, smiling at the two trainers.

"Congratulations.", Bansai said smiling. "But don't get too arrogant. There are two more tests to pass. Follow me." He then climbed up the ladder, while the two trainers and their pokemon followed him.

They reached the next floor, where this time there was a big gate seperating them from the ladder. Above the gate where three lights, that had the color red and a stand with three different buttons, that were labeled with A), B) and C).

"This test will test your knowledge. I will ask you three questions about the Johto Region. Answer all of them correctly and you can pass. Understand?" Both of the two trainers nodded. "Very well. First question. What color does a shiny Gyarados have? Is it A): Pink, B): Red or C): Black. Choose your answer wisely."

Touching her long hair, Nikki started to think. "Well shiny pokemon are really rare, so I don't know if Gyarados is pink.", she said frowning. Damian shook his head.

"Seriously pink? You have no idea what a Gyarados looks like in its shiny form? It is red of course.", he replied casually and pressed the button labeled B). When he pressed it one of the red lights started to glow and Bansai clapped smiling.

"Very good. Now on to the next learns an Ice Attack. Biut which one? Is it A): Ice Beam, B): Powder Snow or C): Ice Punch? Choose your answer wisely." Gabe immediately tried to press C), but Nikki held his arm.

"What are you doing?! Gastly can't learn Ice Punch, I mean look at mine! It doesn't have hands! Why do you think he can learn it?", she asked bewildered. Was Damian really that dumb? The latter shook his head and sighed.

"Just trust me please. I know the answer, because I watched once a Documentary that was about Ghost Pokemon. They said that it can learn Ice Punch, even if it doesn't make sense." He pressed on the C) button, before his companion was able to stop him. Another red light turned on and Bansai laughed in delight.

"Very good! You seem to be really smart, which I can't say from every trainer! Now onto the last question. What water-pokemon is regarded as beautiful , but extremely cruel? Is it A) Gorebyss, B) Huntail or C) Milotic?" He pointed at the ladder. "Remember if you can solve this question, then you can move on to the last challenge. So do your best."

Nikki immediately turned to Damian, who this time didn't seem to know the answer. "What's wrong Mr. Smartypants?", Nikki teased smirking. "Do you have an answer for this as well you Alakazam?" The boy didn't answer the girl immediately and bit on his finger. A beautiful pokemon that is also cruel? Milotic was known to be peaceful, so that couldn't be it. Huntail, while being cruel to its prey, was rather ugly. Then the only option left would be...

Gorebyss! Of course, this pokemon was known for draining the blood out of its prey and was beautiful at the same time! With no time to loose, he immediately pressed A). The last red light glowed and this time the gate that separated the two trainers opened itself. Nikki looked baffled at her companion.

"How did you know all of this? I thought you didn't know anything about pokemon!", she asked baffled. With a smug grin, Damian lifted his head slightly and looked to her.

"What can I say? I may not be an expert at battling, but I do know a bunch of facts about pokemon themselves.", he replied prideful and then looked to Bansai, who was clapping again.

'Congrats for passing the second challenge! Now climb the ladder up, where you can face your third and final challenge of this test!", he said and the two trainers and their pokemon immediately climbed up the ladder, while Bansai watched them.

They reached the next floor, where this time, there was a big red symbol of a pokeball in the middle of the room. As Damian and Nikki climbed up from the ladder, an old man with a long snow white beard stood at the opposite side of the room . His robe was light blue and he had a pokeball in his left hand. "Ah you made it. That is indeed very good. My name is Kirihito and I'm the head monk of the Bellsprout Tower. In this final test, you will face my Weepinbell.", he said, threw his pokeball and out came a yellow creature with a leaf on each side on its head and with a big mouth. "Each of you have only one try in defeating it. If both of your pokemon faint, you are out. If one of you wins, then you completed the challenge. Now who will try it first?" Nikki immediately stepped forward with a big smirk on her face.

"I'll beat that Weepinbell, till it starts crying like a Wishiwashi! Gastly, let's go!", she exclaimed and Gastly floated in front of Nikki. Kirihito smiled slightly and shook his head amused.

"You have confidence, but are you really as good as you say you are my child? You shouldn't lie to yourself, it is not good karma.", he said with a tilted head. "Let us begin the battle then."

**Battle:** **Nikki vs Bansai**

"Gastly use Sludge Bomb!", she exclaimed and Gastly fired a purple ball at Weepinbell. Nikki smirked with the expectation that the fight would be over in a few seconds. However the purple ball suddenly was deflected by a beam of light and disinigrated. "Hey what just happened?! Why didn't Sludge Bomb hit?", she exclaimed shocked. Then she noticed that Weepinbell was holding a powder bag that was wrapped around its neck as a chain. "Wait a minute, this is Bright Powder! Rettan says it is banned! You can't just cheat!" Kirihito chuckled amused.

"Do you think I care about those goats from Rettan? This is my Tower, so these are my rules! Weepinbell, Sleep Powder!", Kirihito ordered and the pokemon moved its leafs so fast that some bright powder appeared all of a sudden and hit Gastly straight in the face. The ghost pokemon immediately closed his eyes and fell towards the ground until it lay there sleeping.

"Oh no Gastly, wake up!", Nikki screamed fearfully and watched as the pokemon only snored and didn't move one bit. Kirihito was smirking and then pointed at it.

"Your Gastly is too weak my child. Finish it of with Sucker Punch." Weepinbell raced to Gastly and used hid leaves to punch it. The ghost pokemon crashed towards the wall and flew through it. Nikki immediately looked out from the sole window in the room and saw that Gastly landed on the ground and lay there unconsciously. Nikki immediately ran towards the ladder, climbed it down, desperate to look for her pokemon.

"Nikki wait come back!", Damian exclaimed and glared to the head monk. "You will pay for this, it's my turn now! Go Shuppet!" Shuppet immediately flew towards its trainer and faced Weepibell. "You will pay what you did to Gastly! Right Shuppet?" The ghost pokemon nodded determined.

"Yes, he will because the only one who should beat Gastly is me!", it exclaimed. Kirihito chuckled darkly.

"Oh I see. Then we will soon see, who of us is the most powerful. This is going to be interesting."


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15 Kirihito's Downfall

The two opponents, Shuppet and Weepinbell, stared at each other with a look of determination in their eyes. The old man standing behind the Weepinbell smirked.

"You truly are foolish to challenge me. Let me put you in your place, my foolish child.", head monk Kirihito said with a smirk on his face, that could be compared of the one of a Gengar. Damian didn't say anything back and pointed at the grass-type pokemon.

**Pokemon Battle: Damian vs Kirihito**

"Shuppet, use Knock Off!", he said and Shuppet charged at its opponent, but before he could hit it, a light came from the bright powder. The light was so strong that it blinded the ghost pokemon and it missed the attack. Kirihito only smiled maliciously.

"Your attacks are too weak. Weepinbell, use Energy Ball.", he ordered calmly. Out of Weepinbell's mouth came a green glowing ball and threw it at Shuppet. It hit it straight in the face, but it kept flowing in the air. Nervously, Damian clenched his teeth. As long as he couldn't hit Weepinbell, the fight was lost. What can they do, to win this battle?

"Shuppet, please tell me that you have other attacks other than Screech and Knock Off! Otherwise we'll be doomed!", Damian said to his pokemon nervously. The ghost pokemon turned to his trainer groaning.

"I do have some other attacks. Two to be more exact, called Feint Attack and Shadow Sneak. Should I use one of them?", it asked and then barely dodged another Energy Ball from Weepinbell. "And if you're gonna decide, you should do it now! Or otherwise, we will both lose!" Damian nodded fast and then just chose the first attack.

"Shuppet, use Feint Attack!", he commanded. Shuppet charged at Weepinbell, with a dark aura surrounding it. The young pokemon trainer slowly closed his eyes, not wanting to see Shuppet suffering again. There was a groan, but it didn't belong to Shuppet. Damian opened his eyes again and looked surprised as Weepinbell was on the ground, grunting in pain, while Shuppet levitated in front of it. Kirihito looked shocked, his overconfident smirk from before had disappeared.

"It has Feint Attack!? But that makes Bright Powder useless! Get up immediately you stupid piece of Garbador and use Sleep Powder! Or I'll punish you with my Grumpig!", Kirihito exclaimed angirly to his pokemon. Wepinbell, upon hearing those words stood up immediately while muttering: "No master, I won't disapoint you." It then created a large amount of powder and threw it at Shuppet.

"Oh no Sleep Powder! Shuppet you need to go!" Shuppet only sighed and shook its head confidently, as the attack hit it straight in face. But Shuppet was still awake, to Damian's surprise. "Huh? Why are you awake?", he asked confused.

Shuppet, without turning around, replied: "I have the ability Insomnia. I can't sleep.", it replied casually. Damian looked baffeld to his pokemon.

"Wait, you can't sleep at all?! Isn't that super unhealthy and stuff?", he asked confused. Shuppet only scoffed slightly.

"This is not the right time to talk about those things. Now let's finish this, shall we?" Without hesitation, Damian nodded and then pointed at Weepinbell.

"You're right buddy, let's finish it! Use Feint Attack!" Shuppet attacked the grass pokemon again and this time the attack knocked it out. Weepinbell fell on the ground and then lay there unconsciously. "We did it!", Damian said and ran to his pokemon cheerfully. Even Shuppet seemed surprised at its victory and smiled happily. "We did a great job there buddy! Soon, we'll be the best!"

Shuppet laughed slightly. "Maybe you're right. If we can beat this guy, why can't we defeat all the gym leaders as well? That was easier than I had expected." Kirihito meanwhile looked shocked at his pokemon, called it back, but then slowly went to Damian. He looked at the boy with an angry expression.

"You were just lucky. I swear you will pay for this you brat! Just show that ticket to the loud guy and you can fight both! Now go away!", he exclaimed and handed Damian two red cards with a Bellsprout symbol on them. He then went to a door, on the other side of the room, opened it and then disappeared. Shuppet slightly chuckled.

"Wow, his negativity tastes awful. Even Gastly's is much more tasty!", it said grinning. Damian laughed as well. He didn't know himself how negativity tastes, but if it's worse than Gastly, then he doesn't want to know.

"We should probably go to Nikki and see if her pokemon is alright.", Damian said, slightly concerned. She didn't look happy, when her pokemon fell from the tower. The two both then climbed down the ladders, until they finally arrived at the exit of the tower. Bansai was also there and slightly bowed, when they left the building.

Outside, they saw Nikk spraying Gastly with a Revive. When she noticed the two, she smiled slightly. "Ah there you are. How did it go?", she asked curiously. Damian took out the two tickets and showed them to her. Nikki let out a gasp and looked then to the boy surprised.

"How did you beat him? He had Bright and Sleep Powder! Don't tell me your Shuppet was hacked!", she exclaimed surprised. Nikki looked exasperated at the girl.

"Hacked? Pokemon isn't a video game! I just defeated that thing, because of Shuppet's Feint Attack. I still wonder why it hit all the time.", he said, while playing with his hair. The surprise on Nikki's face disappeared upon hearing those words and she nodded.

"That explains it. Feint Attack may be a low base power move, but it hits all the time. No wonder you hit Weepinbell. Anyway, now that we have the tickets, we should be able to challenge the Gym." She smiled and pumped her fist. "Gastly and I will dominate that Gym Leader till he cries for mercy! Right Gastly?" The ghost pokemon flew next to her, while saying: "Time to get that badge." Damian looked at the girl surprised.

"Woah there, are you sure? I mean, you just had a battle! Shouldn't you just, I dunno, rest or something?", he asked confused. Nikki shook her head.

"Can't. I need to make up for my loss in the tower. And the best way to do it, is to win another battle! Come on Damian let's go!" And with that, she and Gastly ran away on their way to the Gym.

"Hey wait up for me!", Damian said, while he and Shuppet tried to catch up with them.

They arrived at the stadium 10 minutes later, with Carlos guarding the entrance. When he saw the two trainers, he let out a big roar.

"What are you doing here?! Didn't I tell you brats, that you can't enter this gym until you passed the test?! Or did you just passed in in a time span of 30 minutes?!", he exclaimed angrily. Damian was unfazed however. They were qualified after all. He took out the ticket, that Kirihito gave him, and showed it to Carlos. The man looked at first surprised, but then nodded.

"Fine. Who of you kids want to face Falkner first?" Before Damian could answer Nikki immediately went in front of him.

"I do!", she said.

"Good. Then follow me to your cabin. Falkner just had a battle and needs to rest for a short while. You can battle him in 10 minutes.", he said and Nikki nodded.

"I understand. Lead the way please.", she said politely and followed Carlos to the entrance. Damian wanted to follow them as well, but Carlos shoved the boy away.

"Don't even think about it! Only one challenger can enter the gym! You gotta stay outside and wait!"; Carlos said and then entered the building. Nikki shot him a sad glance and then followed him as well. Now Damian and Shuppet were all alone.

"So what now?", Shuppet asked. "I don't wanna stay here all day. Can't we do something fun?" Damian played with his hair and looked around. Where could they go? Suddenly, he saw a sign that pointed to the north that said: **Alph Ruins** . "The Alph Ruins! It is said, that it contains mysteries. Exactly, what I want right now. So come on, let's go there!", he said and then went to the direction that the sign showed. Shuppet rolled its eyes and then followed him.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16 The Alph Ruins

**-Somewhere-**

Three people sat at a table, that had a big "R" Emblem on it. The first member on the right had short silver white hair, a slight white beard and wore a white uniform with a big RA emblem on it. Next to him was his colleague, a bit smaller and was completely bald. He wore the same uniform as his partner. The last of the three was a young girl with red hair and also wore the same uniform.

"When do you think will Commander S arrive?", asked the person with the white hair. The bald man next to him just shrugged nonchantly.

"I don't know. But it's still strange that he called all of us here. I wonder what he might want from us. He only calls us all if we make a mistake or if there are some news for us. We shouldn't worry about it Lux. I mean the team has been doing well right?" The man named named Lux nodded slightly.

"Thank you H. Now I'm less nervous of seeing Commander S. I mean we both know what happened last time when he got mad, right?" Before H could respond, the doors opened and a figure with red hair appeared in front of the three people. He shot a cold glare with his brown eyes at all of them, which made Lux and H shrudder, while the girl didn't seem to be affected at all. It was really hard to read her, due to her stoic expression. The red haired person took a deep breath and then spoke.

"I must commend you for your work. Because of you, we have found enough energy from the grounds of Johto. Our boss is really happy with you at the moment. Congratulations.", he said calmly. Lux and H looked at their boss flabergasted. He was congratulating them? That was really rare for him, considering his short temper.

"However that does not mean that you can rest. We have new orders you see." He leaned on the table and looked at each one of them with his cold glare.

"A boy named Damian is currently travelling Johto, along with the daughter of Johto's champ named Nikki. Your job is to capture him and bring him to me. I'll send you his coordinates. Do you understand?", he asked coldly. The girl, who hasn't said anything yet, looked at her boss confused.

"With all due respect Commander S sir, but why do you want a simple boy? Shouldn't we be more concerned with finding "them"?", she asked carefully. Suddenly S slammed his hand on the desk, causing everyone of the three subordinates to flinch.

"The order comes from the boss himself. I may not know the reasons for that order, but I know you will do it. You are high ranking members of Team Rocket after all. Otherwise I have to punish you." He emphasised the last sentence by pulling out a gun and pointing it to their face. "Do I make myself clear? Then go.", he asked calmly. All of the three Team Rockets member nodded and left the room immediately. S only sighed annoyed. Are people theses days really that slow at comprehending? In a sudden, the walkie-talkie that hung on S's belt vibrated. He took the device from his belt and then pressed a button.

"Did you hand out the order?", a disguised voice came from it.

"Yes I did. These fools do not know how to act fast though.", S replied calmly. The voice chuckled.

"Figured. People these days really are slow. Hopefully they will bring that boy to me.", the voice said, laughing deeply. S looked at his device with a slight frown on his face.

"Sir out of curiosity, why do you want that boy anyway? I've been following them nonstop and flying from Violet City to the base takes a real long time. What interest do you have in the boy?", he asked slightly nervous. The voice on the other end scoffed.

"I have my reasons for it. Reasons that do not concern you. Get the job done and continue for the search of the legendary cats. Call me when you're done." With that, the device was off again. S wiped some sweat from his face. That Damian person should better be careful.

-Alph Ruins-

Meanwhile Damian, Shuppet and Oddish arrived at the Alph Ruins. There wasn't anything else here other than that. The only things that were there besides the ruins, was a house that belonged to an archaeologist and a small pond with water in it. Damian could feel a mysterious aura surrounding this place.

"So what are those caves?", Oddish asked confused.

"Those ruins are apparently really old and existed ever since the world was created.", Damian responded while looking at the ruins. "No one really knows who build them, but there are rumors that this place has some sort of connection with a mountain in Sinnoh."

"Why do you want to go there human?", Shuppet asked confused. "I mean this place gives me the creeps. Shouldn't we just wait, until that girl is finished with her battle?" The boy shook his head, without looking at his pokemon.

"That would be boring. Besides I love archaeology. Figured that we could do some sightseeing. And to grow closer." Oddish laughed happily.

"Oh such a wonderful idea Damie! I can get to spend time with Ghosty!", she said and Shuppet only sighed annoyed.

"Can't you just kill me?"

"You can't die Shuppet, you're a ghost after all.", Oddish replied smirking. Shuppet only groaned even more, while the grass type and her trainer laughed. They then saw a big cave between the ruins that had a sign at the top of it, which said.

**Alph Ruins**

**Where the past lives**

"Well let's go in guys. Come on!", Damian said as he entered the cave, while Shuppet and Oddish followed their trainer. They were now in a big hall, that had many strange signs on the walls. The symbols looked like letters, but with an added eye.

"What are those things?", Damian asked himself loudly. Oddish looked closer and then just nodded.

"Those are Unown.", she said. The young trainer looked to her confused.

"Unown? Is that a pokemon?"

"Yes. There known for living in the ruins and are known to be one of the strangest pokemon, since they can't evolve and know only Hidden Power.", she answered. But at the same time, they're dangerous." Damian looked at his pokemon confused.

"What do you mean by that?", he asked and before the pokemon could answer they suddenly saw a strange creature floating around. The creature looked just like the symbols on the wall. It was an Unown! The pokemon trainer looked surprised at the pokemon. They stared at each other for quite a while, unitl suddenl a deep voice came out of the psychic type pokemon.

"**_Follow me._**", it said and then disapeared into the depths of the hall.

"Wait!", Damian said and chased after the creature. His pokemon immediately followed him, curious of what the Unown might want from the boy. If they would have turned around, the pokemon and their trainer might have seen three people with white uniforms looking at them.

-Pokemon Gym of Violet City-

"Use Hurricane!"

A big whirlwind came from a brown bird-like pokemon, with a yellow and red mane and it went immediately to a black Ghost pokemon. It barely dodged the attack and the hurricane crashed into a wall. Behind him, was Nikki with a fierce look of determination in her eyes. She couldn't lose this! They only had to defeat this last pokemon to gain the badge! Her opponent on the other side had the same look in his eyes. He was a man with sky blue hair and he wore green robes that had wing symbols attached on the sleeves. This was Gym Leader Falkner.

"You're good, but if you think my bird pokemon will fall then you're wrong!", he said smiling. The girl on the other side of the arena only smirked.

"Ha! And how you will you plan that? I defeated your first pokemon without a problem and your hurricane has such a low accuracy! How do you plan on defeating me?" Falk only sighed amused and shook his head.

"We'll then let's change that. Pidgeot, use Rain Dance!", he said and the bird pokemon moved its wings so fast that it created a big cloud over the gym. Rain started to pour down from it, filling the entire stadium in a heavy storm. "Now use Hurricane again!" A big whirlwind of wind was created again. It then started to move closer and closer to Gastly. Nikki only smirked. She had him right where she wanted Pidgeot to be.

"Gastly, use Thunder.", she said calmly. The ghost pokemon glowed bright and shot a yellow beam into the sky. Said Beam came a few seconds later out of the clouds and hit Pidgeon with full force. The flying pokemon fell down immediately and then laid on the ground unconscious. At the same time, the Hurricane disappeared shortly before it hit Gastly.

"Pidgeon is unable to battle! Challenger Nikki wins the battle!", the referee declared. Nikki immediately jumped joyfully and then went to her ghost pokemon.

"We did it! Now we only have 7 others to beat!", she exclaimed happily with a big smile on her face. Gastly smiled as well, being happy that he had won. Falkner, sighed, called Pidgeot back into its pokeball and then went to the girl.

"You did well. Now I see why everyone called you thethe "Tactical Bruiser". You have fully earned yourself this badge." He gave her a double wing-shaped silver object, the Wing Badge. The girl jumped again happily and went to her Gastly, who also smiled as well.

"You were awesome Gastly! Wait until I show that badge Damian! He'll be so jealous!", she said. She and Gastly then went through a door behind them, on their way to meet the rookie trainer.

But when they were out, nothing of Damian could be seen. Nikki looked around, confused of where he might have gone.

"Where did he go? I only left for like 10 minutes", she asked herself, while playing with her hair. The ace trainer looked around and saw an old man looking at the gym. She went to him and tugged his shirt. "Excuse me Mr? Did you see a boy with red hair and a purple shirt?"

The man scratched his chin, without looking at the girl. "Y'know I actuallly saw someone like that. Must have been about 10 minutes ago." Nikki's eyes lit up. So Damian was still here, when she entered the gym.

"Do you know where the boy went?"

"Well he talked to one of his pokemon and then went in direction to the Alph Ruins. Dunno why though. That place gives me the creeps. YoungpeoplethesedaysdonoknowwhattodowhenIwasyoungerIalwayslistenedtomymotherandalsomywifeshouldhavedonethesameand..." Nikki immediately held both of her hands up and gave an embarassed smile.

"Well thank you for your info Mr, but I really gotta go now. Take care!", she said and ran away immediately along with Gastly, before the old man could respond.

"Man that guy talked fast. Did you understood a thing Gastly?" The ghost pokemon shook its head and looked annoyed. "Still I wonder, what Damian would want to do at the Alph Ruins. Is he really that interested in archaeology?" She shook her head, still running in direction to her ruins. "Doesn't matter why he wants to go there. I'm not leaving this town without him".

**Alph Ruins**

**"Follow me."**

The cold voice echoed through the long corridors as Damian and his pokemon tried to catch up with it. As they walked through the cave, Damian couldn't help but feel that the temperature was going down.

"What does this Unown want from us?", Odish asked thinking. "It is not like them to just go to humans." Damian looked back to his pokemon, with the same confused expression as the grass type pokemon.

"Don't know. But well if it says that we should follow him, we do not have another choice."

"Why do you trust that thing?", replied Shuppet annoyed. "Why don't we just turn around and go to the gym! We can't trust Unown!" Before Damian could respond, the Unown suddenly stopped in front of an old big door, made out of stone. The pokemon and their trainer stopped as well and stared at the door. With the back turned to them, the psychic type pokemon suddenly glowed and then the door exploded. Flabergasted, Damian looked at the black pokemon. Without turning around, it said the same words again.

**"Follow me."**

It went through the door and when the three followed the pokemon as well, they found themselves in a big room. The walls looked the same as they did at the entrance, but this times out of the unown figures came a strange black light. In the middle of the room was also a statue that looked like a big Unown. Damian turned to the Unown, who just stared at the boy and his pokemon. Suddenly it glowed again, just as the Unown symbols on the walls did. Before the trainer could say another word, the symbols literally left the wall and came out as Unowns. The statue in the midde of the room shook a bit and then burst into pieces. There was now a big Unown with the same form that the statue once had. It looked at Damian and his pokemon neutral.

**"Hello Damian. We're glad that you're here."**, said the big Unown, with the same cold monotone voice as the other Unown. **"We knew you'd come here."**

Damian took all of his courage up to not scream and run away in panic. His two pokemon Shuppet and Oddish also looked at the psychic type pokemon fearfully.

"How do you know my name? What do you want?!", asked the boy with fear in his voice.

**"There is no need to fear my boy."**, replied the Unown. **"You're not here to be harmed. As for why we know your name, our eyes are everywhere."** With that, alll the eyes of the Unown lit up. **"Let me ask you a question. What is your goal on this journey?"**

**"Well obviously, to become the Pokemon Champion."**, Damian replied smugly. The big Unown mustered at the boy thoughtfully.

**"You are not telling me the truth boy. You want to know, why you can speak with pokemon right?"** Damian backed away shocked. What kind of pokemon is that Unown? Did it just read his mind? Before he could say anything, Oddish intereferd in the conversation.

"What is it to you?", asked the grass type pokemon. "Why do you even care about Damie? He's just an ordinary trainer, who can just speak with pokemon for no reason at all. It doesn't matter in this fanfic!"

**"This is not a fanfic."**, replied the big Unown, the smaller versions of it nodding.** "It really is important, for the boy is not aware of his role."** He looked closely at Damian, who still was speechless for the fact that the big psychic pokemon knows his reason for travelling.

**"What role?"**, he asked suspicious.

**"We have our eyes everywhere."**, replied the big Unown. **"We wanted to contact you earlier, but we never had any chance to do so. We're here to warn you."** Shuppet, who had been quiet up until now, went in front of the psychic pokemon.

"Warn him? About what? Wo would want to go after a normal trainer like him?", it asked confused.

**"Team Rocket."**, the big psychic type simply responded. "They're after you. **We've been hearing their plans and came to warn you."** Surprised, Damian went closer to Unown.

"They want me? But why? Does it have something to do with my ability?" Before any of the Unown could respond a dark energy ball hit the big Unown straight in the face, and knocked it out immediately. The other Unown started to glow again and then disapeared.

"Who shot that Shadow Ball?", asked Damian confused.

"That would have been us.", a voice said. Damian and his pokemon turned around and saw three figures in Rocket Uniforms smirking at them.

_**AN: Yeah the writer finally decided to write some AN's. In case you're wondering why Gastly can learn Thunder when it is unable to do so in the main games, it can learn it in Pokemon LGP and LGE. So yeah, just wanted to write this to avoid confusion y'know. In any case I hoped you liked this chapter and that you also have a nice day!**_

_**See ya!**_


	17. Chapter 17

_**Chapter 17: A mysterious move**_

Damian slowly went a few steps back in fear and his pokemon slowly went for a fighting position ."You are Team Rocket! What are you doing here?", the boy exclaimed fearfully. The bald rocket member chuckled slightly.

"Yes, fear us peasant! For it is us Team Rocket! And you will come with us!", he said with an exaggerating accent. The two people next to him only groaned in annoyance.

"Why should I come with you?", Damian spat back. "I will never go with criminals like you!" At that note, the white haired man stepped next to his colleague.

"My boy, you do not have much of a choice I'm afraid. Either you go willingly...or we have to force you." All of a sudden, a Mightyena came behind the red haired girl and grinned at the trainer and his pokemon maliciously. "Which one is it?"

Going willingly or with force? Damian wasn't having any of that!

"Oddish use Poison Powder!", he exclaimed and the poison type pokemon immediately released a wave of purple powder at the three Team Rocket grunts and their pokemon. While they were coughing, Damian and his pokemon ran past Team Rocket with full speed and found themselves in the hallway again. They ran and ran until Damian suddenly stopped. He scratched his head and looked to his two companions "Ok, does anyone of you know where we came from again?"

"No idea where we came from. It is pretty dark here after all.", replied Oddish with an embarassed grin on her face.

"Sorry human, but I'm not very good with directions.", answered Shuppet with a nonchantly expression. The trainer growled annoyed and looked around the hallway.

"Great we're lost. Could this get any worse?", Damian asked aloud. As if on cue, suddenly a loud voice was heard.

"Mightyena, use Heal Bell!"

A chime filled the halls and a few seconds later, the three criminals along with their Mightyena came out of the room with all signs of the powder gone. The three gave the young trainer and his pokemon a terrifying smirk.

"That wasn't so nice now, was it?", asked the white haired man mockingly. "Well it is time that you know your place boy. Mightyena, use Crunch!" With that, the hyena pokemon charged at Shuppet, his mouth wide open to bite the ghost pokemon.

"Shuppet, use something!", exclaimed Damian in despair, while Oddish only looked concerned at her teammate. Both trainer and his pokemon closed their eyes, fearing for the impact of the attack on Shuppet.

...

But no sound was heard. Damian and Oddish slowly opened their eyes and saw a confusing scene. Where Shuppet levitated a few moments ago, there was nothing. Mightyena looked around the room hastily, being confused by the sudden absence of the pokemon. Even Team Rocket seemed puzzled.

"Did we get him?", asked the bald one. His comrades didn't answer him, as they were just as confused as he was. Oddish glanced at her surroundings, a serious expression on her normal jolly face.

"I don't understand. I can sense, that he's still here, yet I can't see him. Where is he?", the grass type pokemon asked herself aloud. Damian put a finger on his chin, as he was deep in thought. Where is his pokemon? It is here, but Damian can't see him. What is going on?

Suddenly, he saw some transparent red lights from the shadows and that's when it hit him.

Shuppet was a ghost.

Suddenly, Shuppet lunged at Mightyena out of nowhere with strong force. The dark type mon, surprised by the sneak attack, flew with brute force to a wall and then fell on the ground. With force, the hyena pokemon managed to stand up again, only to be then attacked by Shuppet again, as the ghost type pokemon tackled Mightyena. The pokemon groaned in pain, while all Damian could do is stare at his partner. His movements were so rough and so hate filled. Even Team Rocket looked rather disturbed at the scene. The bald one took out a pokeball, pointed it at the injured pokemon and pressed the button. A light came out of the capsule and enveloped Mightyena. The light then came back to the ball in a flash, Mightyena having left the place. Team Rocket looked at each other and then ran past Damian, Oddish and Shuppet in a quick motion.

"We will get you next time kid, you'll see!", the white haired man replied in fear as they ran away. After they disappeared in the depths of the hallway, Damian and Oddish slowly looked at Shuppet. The latter was breathing heavily, his eyes all red and full of fury.

"Hey Ghostie, are you okay?", asked Oddish and slowly approached the ghost type pokemon. As if on cue, Shuppet's breathing softened and his red eyes turned back to blue. The ghost pokemon looked to his trainer and his partner with a confused glance.

"What happened to Team Rocket?", Shuppet asked, as it cocked its head.

"How can you ask that? You defeated them!", replied Damian flabbergasted. With a confused glance, the ghost pokemon shook its head.

"I can't remember, that I did any of that. All I can remember is, that I suddenly lost conscious. Did something happen, while I was gone?" Oddish hesitated for a moment and then replied to the pokemon's question.

"Well after Mightyena attacked you, you suddenly disappeared without a trace. But then you reappeared again and beat that meanie up, while your eyes were scary red. What kind of move was that anyway?" Shuppet's confusion began to grow even more, as his comrades told him of his forgotten actions.

"I don't know a move like that. I only know Shadow Sneak and Knock Off.", it replied, unsure of himself. The pokemon trainer closed his eyes and put a finger on his chin. Why did Shuppet turn so agressive? And why couldn't it remember anything? Before he could continue his thought process, someone interrupted him.

"There you are! Why didn't you tell me, that you wanted to visit the ruins you idiot!"

Damian turned around and saw Nikki running to him from the corner, along with Gastly. The pokemon trainer rubbed his neck in embarassement.

"Well I didn't want to stand and wait till you were finished, so I thought I'd do some sightseeing.", the boy replied grinning awkwardly. "Ah but did you defeat Falkner?" Nikki's anger vanished within seconds and was replaced by a beaming smile.

"I did! Look at this shiny badge!", she replied and took out the silver Zephyr badge. "Falkner didn't stand a single chance to me and Gastly! But well he was using a Pidgeot, so no surprise that we won. Right Gastly?" The ghost pokemon only nodded to its trainer smugly. "Well, come on! It's your turn to challenge the Gym!" However much to the girl's surprise, Damian shook his head.

"Sorry but I'm a bit tired. I'll battle Falkner tommorow.", he replied and yawned. The tactical bruiser looked at her companion confused.

"You are tired already? From what?"

"Well, my pokemon and I explored the whole ruins, so naturally we are really tired. Right guys?", the boy replied and gave his pokemon a wink. Shuppet and Oddish understood immediately and both nodded.

"If you say so Damian. Very well then, you can challenge Falkner tommorow.", Nikki says with a bit of sceptism in her voice. "Now come along. I'll bring us outside." With that, the girl and her Gastly turned around and went to the direction from where they came from. Damian and his pokemon began to follow the girl, while Shuppet really didn't know, why Damian didn't tell Nikki the truth on what happened here.

**AN: Yh I'm sorry for relaying this for so long you know. I only recently started to continue this project, so I hoped you hadn't missed it too much. Well I hope you liked it. Have a nice day guys!**


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18: An unexpected gift

**_Pokemon Center- Bedroom_**

The rest of the day had been rather uneventful. After the events in the ruins, Damian, Nikki and their pokemon went back to their bedroom and an uncomfortable silence was filling the room. No one had said aynthing for the rest of the day and now it was 1 am. It was already night and everyone was asleep. Nikki laid in her bed and snored pretty loud, while the rest of the pokemon were sleeping on the ground (or in Shuppet's and Gastly's levitating). Damian was the only person who was awake, for two reasons.

Reason 1: Nikki's snore was unbearable (Seriously, how can you sleep like that?)

Reason 2: Alph ruins

The latter was the most important catalyst for his discord. He wasn't really sure why he wanted to visit those ruins in the first place. Yes, he may have told Shuppet and Oddish that he wanted to visit the ruins for his interest in archaeology, but quite honestly that was partially a lie. He did want to investigate the ruins, but not only because of said interest.

No, he felt somewhat familiar with this place.

As if he was there before.

"Why did the ruins feel familiar? I never remember visiting them.", Damian thought to himself. He rolled from one side to the other, in an attempt to fall asleep. But he was restless. Seeing as his attempts to sleep were useless, Damian slowly stood up from his bed and made his way to the door.

**Outside**

Damian walked through the empty streets of Violet City. It was really quiet and only the noises of Hoothoot filled the streets. The young trainer had no idea where he was going, until he reached a small lake. In the distance, you could see the Bellsprout tower in all his might. There was a bench right next to him and with a lamp on the left, being the only source of light around the lake. Damian decided to sit there. He then stared into the water and saw the stars behind his own reflection.

"Why are you up so late kid?"

Damian turned around surprised and saw that Morty was standing next to the bank. The reh haired man with the white suit gave the young trainer a big smile.

"Morty? What are you doing here?", Damian asked suspiciously. The older man clapped loudly and gave a hearty laugh.

"Oh, I just wanted to see how you're doing buddy. Did you already challenge the gym leader?"

"No I'm planning to do that tommorow. "

"Oh for reals? Then why are you still up buddy, your body needs sleep after all.", Morty asked and raised an eyebrow. "You won't win battles, if you're not fit y'know?"

"I know that, it's just I have much to think about."

"You're thinking about something? What exactly?"

Damian closed his eyes for a moment. Was it right to trust this man? He barely knew Morty! But he did help him for his fight against Nikki. So maybe telling him was the best idea.

"Well Mr. Morty, have you ever had a Déjà Vu before?" The man scratched his head slightly in confusion.

"You mean, if you felt something was familiar before? Well a few times actually. Why do you ask?" Damian starred at his own reflection in the water again and then told Morty of the events that had transpired in the alph ruins.

"I just feel like, as if I know this place. But where? Any idea?", the boy asked the older man. The ladder shook his head.

"Can't say I know the answer for that. It is pretty strange that Team Rocket would target other people, but the only advice I can give you is to be careful. My gut is telling me, that you have something that they don't."

"Something I have? What exactly?" Damian couldn't imagine anything that his pursuers would lack. What were they after? But all of a sudden, it klicked in him.

They were after his power to talk to pokemon.

It was the only thing that would make sense! Apart from his trivial knowledge about pokemon and his ability to communicate with the creatures, there was nothing special about him. Team Rocket was after him because of his ability! But why? And how did they know his ability in the first place? Not even Nikki knows!

"What's wrong kiddo? Why did you go quiet all of a sudden?", asked Morty, with a confused expression. Damian shook his head slightly and then gave a small smile.

"Oh it is nothing. I was just thinking on how I could take down Falkner.", he lied and gave an embarassed grin. "Anyway, it was nice talking to you, but I better get back to the Pokemon Center. See ya!" He stood up from the bench and wanted to walk away, but Morty put a hand on his shoulder.

"Please wait kid. I'm curious. How do you plan on beating Falkner?", Morty asked with curiosity, but also with a hint of amusement.

"Well, uh I'll use Shuppet and Oddish and win. Simple right?", Damian replied uncertain. To his surprise, Morty chuckled slightly.

"Buddy, grass pokemon are not good against flying types. Judging from your face you do not seem to have a good game plan right?" Damian only shook his head, while looking down embarassed. The red haired man clapped again and smiled widely at the boy.

"Hey it's ok! I had the same problem back when I faced Falkner! In order to defeat him, I needed some kind of advantage. So I used this!" With that, Morty grabbed in the bags of his white suit and took out a yellow disc. "Give it your Shuppet and let it stare at the disc for a few seconds! Trust me, it will help you!

Damian swirled the yellow disc around its fingers. It was made of plastic and it felt quite hot. What was that item?

"Thank you Mr. Morty. I'll...

But when he looked back, Morty had already disappeared. Being too tired to question the man's disappearance, Damian made his way to the pokemon center.

When he entered the bedroom again, Damian immediately let himself fall on the bed and fell asleep within seconds.

"Wake up you Slowpoke, you gotta fight Falkner!", exclaimed Nikki and threw a pillow at Damian. The latter groaned slightly and then opened his eyes. Nikki was already fully dressed, sporting her familiar black outfit and she stared at Damian rather impatiently. The boy yawned and then stood up from the bed with all his might. He then looked at his surroundings. Shuppet and Oddish were fully awakened and waited for their trainer to get dressed, while Gastly stood next to Nikki and looked at Damian rather exasperated.

"How long was I asleep?", asked Damian tired, as he scratched his eyes.

"It is 10 am now. I was already awake since 8! Geez, you really sleep too much Damian." The boy didn't reply, took some of his spare clothes from his bag and then went to the bathroom.

A few minutes later Damian came out of the bathroom but saw, that Nikki and Gastly were already gone.

"Where are they?", he asked his two pokemon.

"That girl and Gastly couldn't wait any longer, so they just went out of the pokémon center. Said they'll be waiting for you.", Shuppet replied. Damian only nodded and then approached his ghost pokemon. Shuppet stayed quiet, as he took the yellow disc from his nightstand.

"Just look at this for a few seconds ok?", Damian said and then pressed the disc at Shuppet's face. The ladder groaned and flew a few centimetres back.

"No need to press that thing on my face. I'll look at it!" replied Shuppet exasperated and began to stare at the disc. At first nothing happened and everyone stayed quiet. Even Oddish was quiet and looked at Shuppet, as it fixated its eyes on the disc.

Then it happened.

All of a sudden, a bright light filled the entire room, both Damian and Oddish closing their eyes in pain. But then as fast as it appeared, in seconds it disappeared. Damian opened his eyes slightly and saw Shuppet glowing in a yellow light.

"What's wrong Ghosty?", asked Oddish and stared at him in confusion. The ladder began to groan.

"I d-don't know. So much enery! M-must le-t it all out!" And with that, Shuppet released a beam of electricity at Damian. The boy managed to dodge the attack, so the beam only hit the wall. For a while no one said anything, with only the sound from outside being heard. Then Oddish decided to break the silence.

"What the heck? Was that Thunderbolt?", she asked perplexed. Since Shuppet didn't answer due to being still confused, the poison type pokemon turned to its trainer.

"Hey Damie, what did you give to him just now?" Damian scratched his head slightly and then told his pokemon the events that transpired last night. Shuppet groaned slighlty and then gave its trainer a slight glare.

"So you just accept a random disc from someone we barely know? Are you serious?". asked Shuppet angry. The young boy looked at his pokemon confused.

"He helped us out before didn't he? Morty trained us, so I don't understand why you're so angry!", he shot back. He was being angry now. Why was Shuppet so distrustful towards Morty?

Shuppet only sighed slighlty and then went towards the door. "Let's just get going okay? We have a badge to win." And with that, the ghost pokemon went through the door. Damian and Oddish looked at each other for a few minutes and then also left the room.

**AN: Yeah I really hope you like this chapter. In the next one, Damian will go up against Falkner. Will he prevail against the master of bird pokemon? Stay tuned!**


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

When Damian came out of the pokémon center, Nikki and Gastly were already standing there impatiently.

"There you are! What took you so long?", she asked with annoyance. Damian gave her a fake sheepish smile.

"Oh it just took me a little while to change, that's all. We should go to the gym then." And with that, the boy made his way towards the gym followed by Oddish and Shuppet.

"Hey wait for us!", Nikki exclaimed and chased after the boy, along with Gastly.

A few minutes later, the group eventually reached the gym building. As they approached it, they saw Carlos standing at the entrance. When he saw them, the yellow haired man gave a big glare at the two trainers.

"What are you doing here! You already won against Falkner yesterday didn't you?", he yelled at Nikki. The latter flinched and Oddish hid behind Shuppet, while he and then Damian stepped up.

"It is my turn today Mr. Carlos. So if it'd be alright with you, I'll challenge Falkner now." Carlos gave the boy a quick glance and then nodded.

"Alright then. Follow me kid.", he replies with a sudden calmness in his voice. Carlos then turned around and went into the building, while Damian followed him. Nikki wanted to enter as well, but the yellow haired man shot her a big glare, which made her flinch.

They were both walking through a long corridor, filled with numerous posters of pokemon and doors on each side of the wall.

"Here's some info for you kid. Falkner specializes in flying type pokemon. If you have electric types at your disposal, then this fight should be a breeze." That got Damian thinking. That bolt of lightning that Shuppet caused earlier looked a lot like electricity. So maybe he can use that to his advantage?

"I really hope that you brat actually have a plan against Falkner.", Carlos continued. "He's actually one of the strongest gym leaders in Johto now."

"Wait, but I've heard that he used to be one of the weakest ones in the region. How could he become so good in a matter of thirty years?" Suddenly Carlos stopped and turned around.

"Well it is a secret technique called "training".", Carlos replied sarcastically and then gave Damian a big glare. "Seriously, how dumb can you be?! Everyonce can improve themselves, by training. Especially with Rettan."

There it is again.

Rettan.

The one competitive organisation that just classified all of the pokemon in certain tiers. Well all except Shuppet and many other pokemon. Where they really that good to transform a weak trainer into a champ?

"Hey!"

Damian blinked slightly and starred at Carlos, who was slightly irritated.

"Oh sorry, I just spaced out for a bit, that's all.", replied Damian sheepishly. The older man glanced at the boy for a second with a frown, before both of them moved on. A few seconds later, they saw a big blue door with a wing symbol at the end of the hallway. "The gym leader is behind these doors kiddos. I gotta do somethin' and then I'll watch the match. See ya." And with that, the yellow haired man turned around and went away. Damian took a deep breath and looked at his two pokemon standing next to him.

"You're ready?"

"Not sure.", replied Shuppet. "I'm feeling a bit dizzy. Not sure if I can handle the opponent."

"Ah don't be like that Ghostie!", Oddish replied smiling. "I' believe that we'll win this fight! You just gotta believe in it!"

Shuppet only shook his head in anoyance, as Damian grabbed the handle and opened the door. Inside was a big room. In the middle of it was a big hole, where only a few platforms were levitating in the air. The boy gulped slightly. Why is there no ground? Is that supposed to be the battle field? He looked to his two pokemon. Oddish looked rather calmly, while Shuppet was glancing nervously towards the dark hole.

"Are you alright Shuppet?", asked Damian, who noticed the pokemon's anxiousness. Shuppet shook his head wildly.

"N-n-no I'm not!", replied the ghost pokemon shakily. Oddish smirked because of that remark.

"Oh Ghostie, are you afraid of heights?", she teased.

"No I'm not!", answered Shuppet, with his face being crimson red. Both his trainer and the grass type pokemon were giggling. Before the ghost pokemon could respond to the teasing, a voice interrupted the conversation.

"You must be a challenger right?"

Damian looked at the other side of the battlefield and saw a man standing there. He wore a green robe with wing symbols on them and his hair was dark blue. The figure looked at the young trainer, waiting for an response.

"I'm here to challenge the gym.", the young trainer said confidently. "I also completed the Bellsprout Tower challenge along with Nikki. So I'm allowed to battle the gym leader."

The older man looked at Damian sceptical.

"Oh really? Can someone prove that you completed the challenge?"

All of a sudden the door opened. The young trainer turned around and saw Carlos and Bansai, the monk, entering the room.

"He is clear Mr. Falkner, sir.", the yellow haired man said. "According to this monk, he saw how Damian and Nikki managed to defeat the head monk Kirihito."

"Why Nikki and I? I was the one who defeated this jerkass monk.", the boy thought puzzled and then looked to the man named Falkner, who glanced the monk carefully.

"Are you telling the truth monk?", he asked, to which the monk gave a short nod. "I see then.", Falkner said and then turned to Damian again.

"It seems that you are qualified after all. Allow me to introduce myself again." He put his hand on his chest. "My name is Falkner and I am the gym leader of Violet city. I am a master of flying type pokemon. Step on the red platform in fron of you and we can begin." He pointed to a red colored area in front of the big hole. Damian nodded and he and his pokemon hesitantly stepped in. Falkner did the same and also stepped into the colored area on the other side. Carlos stood in the middle of the edge of the battlefield, with Bansai having left the room.

"The battle betweem Damian from New Bark Town and the gym leader of Violet City Bansai will begin now!", declared Carlos with his booming voice. "Both participants may only use two pokemon. May the better trainer win!"

Damian then looked to Shuppet and Oddish.

"Are you ready you two? This is our moment to shine, so we can't mess up got it?" Both of the two pokemon nodded and Damian gave a warm smile. He turned back to Falkner, who had already thrown a pokéball into the air. It opened itself and out came a Pidgeotto. It gave a big cry and then looked at Shuppet.

"Seems as if, he chose you.", Damian joked. Shuppet only rolled its eyes at the bad joke and then levitated to the platform.

The battle can now begin.

_**Damian vs Falkner **_

"Go Shuppet! Use the new attack!", exclaimed Damian. The ghost type pokemon began to shine bright and then fired a shining beam full of electricity at Pidgeotto. The ladder flew to the side fast, thus evading the attack. Falkner looked at first surprised, but then chuckled.

"Thunderbolt on your Shuppet eh? A strange choice given Shuppet's weaker attack stat, but certainly not bad.", he says with amusement in his voice.

"You won't smile after I'm done with you!", replied Damian with a smirk. "I'll get that badge, within seconds you see!" He then turned to Shuppet, who still shone a bit.

"Ok Shuppet, use Thunderbolt over and over again!" And with that, the ghost pokemon glowed again and fired Thunderbolt after Thunderbolt after Pidgeotto. The ladder at first managed to dodge the first 7 attacks, however the 8th attack hit the bird pokemon. It made strange movements and screamed in pain, before it stopped moving. The pokemon started to fall rapidly, but a red light surrounded the flying pokemon, as Falkner called Pidgeotto back into his pokeball.

"Pidgeotto is unable to battle! Shuppet has won the battle!", declared Carlos, while pointing at the ghost type. The ladder gave a smile and then turned to his trainer.

"That was easier than I thought.", replied he pokemon somewhat proud.

"You are doing great buddy! Now defeat the other mon and we won the badge!", said Damian.

"Great job Ghosty! Keep going!", replied Oddish cheerfully. Shuppet nodded determined.

"Of course. I will do everything in my power to win this battle!"

Damian smiled and then looked over to Falkner.

"This is easier than I thought it would be! Come on, bring out your last pokemon so we can end this!" Falkner only gave a small smile in response and then threw another pokéball. It bursted and out came a Pidgeot! It gave a majestic cry and then landed besides the gym leader.

"Let us see, if you can bring us down my boy.", he replied with a smirk. Damian looked unfazed though he can't help but wonder: Why is Falkner so calm? He only has one pokemon left after all! Maybe he has something up to his sleeve?

Well that wasn't important. He just needed to win!

"Alright Shuppet, let's end this battle!" Damian exclaimed and gave Carlos a nod. The ladder then raised his arm.

"Challenger Damian will not switch his pokemon out. Let the battle continue!"Pidgeot flew away from Falkner and then stopped above the battle field.

"Now Shuppet, use Thunderbolt again!" The ghost type pokemon shined again and then fired a beam of energy at Pidgeot. The ladder managed to dodge just in time and the attack only hit the wall. *What are you waiting for?", yelled Damian." Shoot again! The ghost pokemon let out beam after a beam in order to hit the bird pokemon. However the ladder just dodged all of the attacks with grace and eventually Shuppet suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong Shuppet?", asked Damian confused, with a hint of fear in his voice. The ghost pokemon only answered with a short "I don't know" and then Damian was filled with new panic. Falkner was laughing in amusement.

"It seems as if your Shuppet can't use Thunderbol anymore, because it lacks pp.". he says with a smirk on his face. The younger tainers eyes went wide. How could he forget that all attacks need a cerain amount of pp?! Since Shuppet can't use Thunderbolt anymore, then that means...

" Shuppet! Move away from Pidgeot!", exclaimed Damian fearfully. But before the ghost type pokemon could react, Falkner gave his order.

"Use Hurricane!"

Pidgeot moved his wings so fast and created a strong wind. The bird pokemon aimed at Shuppet and released a tornado! Shuppet tried to dodge, however the attack hit the ghost pokemon straight in the face. The impact caused the pokemon to fly away, until it stopped in front of Damian. The boy was quiet, while Oddish looked at him worried and screamed at him.

"Wake up Ghostie! Wake up!", she screamed and shook the ghost pokemon. However, it remained unconscious. Damian looked on the ground in confusion. Shuppet got hurt! How could he have prevented that? How can he save this battle now?

"Shuppet is unable to battle! Pidgeot has won this fight!", declared Carlos, while pointing at the flying type type. Falkner smiled slightly and then looked to Damian.

"Where is your confidence now boy?", he asked with a smirk. With fear in his face, Damian looked to Oddish. The grass type pokemon had a huge disadvantage against Pidgeot! Is there really any chance to win the battle?

This match just got more difficult.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20 Retaliation**

Oddish looked horrified, as Damian recalled Shuppet back to its pokéball. The ladder had battled against Falkner's Pidgeot and lost within a short amount of time! Now she has to take of the flying type pokémon. But how is she supposed to do that? The grass type had a type disadvantage! How could she possibly win this battle.? With fear and insecurity, Oddish turned to her trainer, who didn't look any better himself. It was clear to see that he was holding back his urge to cry in despair. He took a deep breath and then looked at Oddish.

"Alright it looks like you have to save this game somehow.", he stated with a forced smile. "I do have a plan, but for that to work I need you to get really close to Pidgeot." The grass type's eyes widened in shock.

"Getting close to that thing? Are you crazy?! He'll just defeat me!", she exclaimed, while glaring at her trainer. The ladder held his hands up in response.

"Trust me, if my plan works then we'll win the match. You just need to trust me.", he replied nervously. "You do trust me, right?"

That made Oddish gone quiet. She hesitated. It was true, that she does like both her trainer and her pokemon colleague Shuppet. However, she had only been catched rather recently and she's still a bit distrustful towards Damian. After all, considering what happened in the past... But if she doesn't trust her trainer, then she may get hurt! Oddish looked up to Damian and forced herself a cheerful smile.

"Of course I trust you Damian! I know we can win this fight together!", she replied with a strained joyful smile. That made her trainer smile as well and he nodded. Damian then looked up to Falkner, who was tapping with his foot impatiently. Carlos also seemed quite annoyed, as he threw the rookie trainer a glare.

"Will the challenger please be so kind and choose his next pokemon?", asked Carlos, who seemed to have trouble staying calm. "Or will he forfeit?" Damian then looked up to the impatient referee and shook his head.

"No, I'm not planning to give up!", he stated with false confidence. "In fact, I'm sending out my next pokemon! Go Oddish!" The grass type pokemon nodded and jumped onto one of the platforms. Falkner gave a slight smirk.

"A grass type against a flying type? Boy, you still have a lot to learn.", the flying type gym leader remarked while looking at the rookie trainer mockingly. He looked up to Pidgeot, the ladder giving him a short nod. "Alright let's end this then. This match will be over within seconds."

Damian only stared back in return. This match may have just become more difficult, but there is still the possibility to win.

**Damain vs Falkner: Round 2**

"Pidgeot attack with Hurricane!"

Once again, the flying type pokemon created a massive wind and shot it at Oddish.

"Oddish, jump to the other platform!", exclaimed Damian. The grass type didn't hesitate and jumped on the other platform. The Hurricane then missed Oddish and destroyed instead one of the platforms. The rookie trainer gulped slightly, as the remains of the object fell into the deep hole. But before he could think about it any longer, Falkner chose the next move.

"Use Hurricane again Pidgeot! And hit this time!", shouted the flying type gym leader and the normal pokemon released its attack again at Oddish.

"Dodge!", shouted Damian and Oddish jumped on the other platform for the second time. This time the attack hit the wall above Damian and a big wave of wind blew through the arena. The rookie trainer gritted his teeth. His original strategy to lower the PP of Hurricane didn't seem to work out. Oddish can't dodge forever and it is only a matter of time until she got hit. "How can I turn this around?", he asked himself with gritted teeth. "If Nikki could defeat this guy, then why shouldn't I? There must be some way. But..." Before the trainer could finish his thoughts however, he was interrupted by Falkner.

"Cone on, you stupid bird! It has a type disadvatage against you, so why is it still alive?!", he shouted livid at his pokemon. "If you're too stupid too aim, then just attack straighforward! Use Tackle!" Pidgeot rollled its eyes and then charged at Oddish at blazing high speed. Damian looked at both of the pokemon for a few seconds, fearing that this might be...

Wait, that's it!

"Oddish jump on Pidgeot!", Damian eclaimed. At first the grass pokemon looked confused, but then it nodded and jumped on the head of Pidgeot. The ladder started to shake and then flew even higher in an attempt to brush the poison pokemon of. Falkner could only stare at the scene with irriataion and confusion written on his face. He turned to Damian.

"What do you think you're doing?!", he demanded and looked at the rookie trainer with fury. Damian ignored him and then looked up to Oddish, who was still clinging on Pidgeot using its mouth.

"Now Oddish, use Poison Powder!"

Without hesitation, the poison pokemon created a lot of purple powder from it head, which then surrounded Pidgeot. The flying pokemon started to cough wildly and then tried even harder to throw off Oddish. The ladder tried with all his might to not let go of the bird, in order to not to fall. However that effort proved to be futile, as Pidgeot did a looping, causing the grass pokemon to fall on one of the platforms with a loud THUD. Damion looked at the grass type pokemon with concern.

"Oddish?! Are you ok!", he exclaimed with panic The poison type pokemon slowly stood up, while groaining in pain and then turned itself towards the rookie trainer.

"I'm fine. That impact did hurt a lot though", she said with a strained smile. Suddenly, Pidgeot tackled Oddish from behind. Damian could only watch as the grass type pokemon slowly fell into the abyss. Then Falkner's laugh echoed across the room. The rookie trainer looked up and saw the gym leader smirking.

"That was satisfying! Sending your pokemon into the abyss! Now I'll win this battle for sure and then I'll renew my 100 winstreak.", he snickered arrogantly. The boy looked into the pit again and saw, that the darkness had swallowed Oddish. What had he done? First, he failed Shuppet and now Oddish! This was all his fault!

All of a sudden, some vines came from the abyss and they wrapped themselves around a platform. Both Damian and Falkner could only stare, as the vines pulled something up, that they were connected to. Damian couldn't believe it.

It was Oddish!

The grass type pokemon finally reached the platform, jumped on it and then the vines disappeared back into the head of the pokemon. She turned to face her trainer.

"Missed me?", she teased grinning. The young trainer almost felt the urge to cry, but he swallowed his tears and then continued to stare at the poison type pokemon.

"H-how did you get those vines?!", he asked surprised.

"Oh did I forget to tell you, that I know Leech Seed? I just used my vines that sprout the seeds and then used them to get back up! Pretty smart eh?" The young trainer slowly nodded. Those vines did seem pretty strong. Strong and long enough for Oddish to get up the battle field and...

Wait that's it!

"Oddish, I think I know how we can beat this guy!", Damian said with newfound confidence. "Just do what I say and we'll win!" The grass type pokemon looked surprised at first, but then she nodded.

"Understood! I'll win this battle for Arceus' sake! Nothing can stop me!" The rookie trainer smiled and looked to Falkner and Pidgeot (the ladder was flying again). Both of them were naturally stunned and if Damian was right, he could hear a "How?" from Pidgeot

"Hey man!", exclaimed Damian. "Are we gonna continue or not?" Falkner only sneered at the trainer.

"Don't act so confident now boy. You will lose this match. Pidgeot use Tackle!" The flying pokemon charged with high speed at Oddish, but the grass type pokemon dodged the attack easily, by ducking.

"That's good", Damian thought to himself. He just needs to stand still." Falkner only glared at his pokemon.

"Come on you stupid bird! Attack already!", he shouted. Pidgeot then tried tried to attack again, but it then stopped and started to glow purple all of a sudden.A fit of coughing soon filled the room, as the effects of the poison were working. Damian smirked. Now it's time to take action!

"Oddish, use Leech Seed and wrap the vines around the pokemon!", Damian exclaimed with confidence. Without hesitating, vines came out from Oddish's head and wraapped themselves around Pidgeot The ladder tried hard to escape the trap, but it didn't work. "Now, slam Pidgeot on the platfform! The grass type nodded and then used all of its strenght to slam the pokemon on the platform. It broke and Pidgeot barely managed to free itself from the vines. It clearly looked weakened, due to the poison and the strong impact on the Platform. It was visible, that it could barely fly in its current state.

"Pidgeot finish this already!", Falkner exclaimed, his anger having vanished immediately and now panic and fear was filling his face.

The flying type pokemon charged at Oddish, but it was so slow that it couldn't dodge the next attack.

"Use Energy Ball!"

Oddish created a green sphere and then fired it swiftly at Pidgeot. Normally such an attack wouldn't do much to a Flying type, but given Pidgeot's weakened state it was no surprise that the sphere knocked out the bird pokemon. But before it could fall into the dark abyss, it was already called back in its pokeball by Falkner.

"Pidgeot is unable to battle! Oddish won the battle against Pidgeot and therefore gym challenger Damian won the gym battle!", exclaimed Carlos, who looked like he himself couldn't believe how this battle turned out. Oddish turned to her trainer and smiled widely.

"We did it Damian! We won!" The boy was silent for a few minutes and then nodded, smilling as well.

"Yes we did Oddish. Because of you I was able to win." He then took out Shuppet's pokeball and looked at it. The ghost type pokemon only managed to defeat Pidgeotto and it was probably a bad idea to tell it about the victory now. It needed to rest. The rookie trainer then turned his head to Falkner.

He looked like as if he was about to release all the rage visible on his face...

But instead he simply smiled and walked over to the young trainer.

"You did well boy. My two bad pokemon didn't stand a chance against you. Since you won, you have deserved this badge." He took out a shining wing shaped object from his robe. It was the Zephyr Badge! The rookie trainer snatched it away from the gym leader's match immediately and held it up in the air proudly. He did it! He won the gym battle!

"We won Oddish!", he exclaimed happily. "Let's go and tell Nikki about our victory!" With that, the trainer immediately went to leave the room, with Oddish trying to catch up with him.

"Wait!", exclaimed Carlos, while holding a TM. "You forgot your..." But the trainer and his pokemon already left the gym. With a sigh, the referree approached the blue haired gym leader. The ladder chuckled slightly.

"For someone who uses such bad pokemon, he sure swept the ground with me.", he said, while scratching his nose slightly. "Carlos, I think this boy may be perfect for the experiment. Keep an eye out of him, will you please?" The muscular man grunted in response.

"You can't order me around like that. You're not my boss." He then smirked a bit. "You're right though. That kid does seem to have the potential. I'll watch him." And with that, Carlos left the room, while Falkner only smiled to himself. Things were about to get really interesting.

_**AN: Hey it's the author again and I hope that you liked this chapter. I know the way how Oddish defeated Pidgeot was a bit unorthodox, but I believe that it is alright. Anyway, that's all I have to say! Stay tuned for the next Chapter!**_


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21 Aftermath**

When Damian and Oddish left the gym, they both saw Gastly and Nikki still standing in the same spot as before. When the girl and the pokemon saw their companions, they immediately ran to them. "So, how did it go?", she asked curiously. Damian smirked and then took out his new Zephyr Badge.

"What do you say? Me and my team fought hard and in the end we won the battle! We did well, didn't we Oddish?", he replied happily and then looked at the grass type pokemon, who nodded proudly. That made Nikki even more intrigued.

"But how did you beat him? I mean Gastly and I defeated him easily, but I can't remember you telling me of some sort of strategy. So how did you beat him?" Once again, the boy smiled and explained how Oddish managed to take out Pidgeot all by itself. When he was finished, both Nikki and Gastly stared at him perplexed and surprised.

"A-are you joking?!", she exclaimed astonished. "You slammed him on the platform?! With Leech Seed? How the heck is that possible?!" The boy rubbed his neck, slightly embarrassed.

"Yeah, I only came up with it on the spot, but it still worked.", Damian replied chuckling. Nikki only groaned in disbelief, but then her face shifted into confusion.

"Say, where's your pokemon Shuppet? Didn't you take it into the gym?" Damian immediately stopped smiling and looked on the ground sad.

"Pidgeot took out Shuppet, without even landing a single hit." He took out his pokeball and frowned upon seeing it. Nikki eyed at him with slight pity, before smiling slightly.

"Don't think about that now. Let's go to the Pokemon Center and heal up your pokemon.", she replied and then she and Gastly made their way towards the Center, with Damian and Oddish following them.

Pokemon Center

"Ok, we'll take your pokemon for a few seconds ok?", asked Nurse Joy politely as she took both of Odish's and Shuppet's pokeballs out of Damian's hand. "This may take a while. Just wait till I'm done ok?" And with that, the nurse turned back and entered a door behind the counter. While he was waiting for his pokemon to get fixed up, Damian then turned to Nikki, who sat on a bench next to Gastly.

"We both have the first badge now, so where is our next step?", he asked the girl. The ladder put her finger on the chin and started to think.

"Well, the nearest city would normally be Azalea Town, but there isn't a gym there anymore." That surprised Damian. The gym leader of Azalea Bugsy, was known to be one of the most skilled bug type trainers in the world and as the inventor of the attack Fury Cutter. But why was the gym gone? The last time Damian looked 4 months ago on the official Johto Gym website, it said that Bugsy was still the leader of the Azalea City Gym. And now the gym is gone? That is a bit strange.

"And which gym will we take on instead then?", he asked and Nikki only groaned and pointed at a big map that was attached to a wall.

"Just look at the map and see which city is next to Viola City! God, why are you so dumb?" Damian only rolled his eyes in response, but then he went to the wall and took a closer look at the map. As he scanned it, Damian saw another town labelled next to it called "Goldenrod City". That must be the next stop!

"So Goldenrod City is our next spot then?", he asked just to be sure. Nikki nodded slightly.

"Yeah exactly. To be honest, I'm kinda excited to go there." All of a sudden, her face morphed into an exciting form and her eyes began to sparkle.

"Goldenrod City is super cool! I mean it has that one big mall and the river there is also very beautiful! I can't wait to go shopping there and buy myself a new hoodie! Man, I'm so pumped!" Damian wanted to reply something, but then he heard Nurse joy calling him. He quickly went to the counter and saw a tablet with two pokeballs being on it.

"You pokemon had been healed to perfect health.", she said smiling. "We hope to see you again." Damian only smiled in response and then took his pokeballs. The boy released both of his pokemon and in a matter of seconds both of them stood (or rather levitated in Shuppet's case) in front of him. The grass type pokemon stretched itself and then smiled happily.

"*Yawn* I'm feeling so much better now! That one battle really took a lot out of me, let me tell ya!", she exclaimed with content. Damian chuckled slightly.

"Yeah, that battle sure took a lot out of you. But in the end, it all worked out." The trainer turned himself towards Shuppet. "How about you Shuppet? Did you rest well?"

The ghost type pokemon didn't answer. It just glared at their trainer. Confused, Oddish looked at them.

"Ghostie, what's wrong?", she asked. The ghost type pokemon didn't answer. Instead they levitated to their pokeball, pressed the button and then entered it. Damian looked confused to Oddish. The ladder only shrugged slightly and then smiled again.

"Don't worry Damian! I'm pretty sure that Ghostie is just tired! I'm pretty sure that some resting will help!" The boy hesitated slightly and then nodded. Oddish must be right. Shuppet is just tired. Yeah, that has to be it. With that in mind, the boy went to Nikki and her Gastly, who both eyed the boy curiously.

"What's wrong buddy?", asked Gastly with a smirk. "Got tension with that excuse of a pokemon?" Damian barely managed to snap back at the ghost pokemon. Instead he just ignored it and looked to Nikki, who gave the boy a strange look.

"Why did you just glare at my pokemon Damian?", she asked confused. The pokemon trainer let out a short sigh and shook his head.

"I didn't. Look, can we just get our things already? I don't want to wait any longer."

"Sure. But you don't have to be so rude about it.", she replied, slightly annoyed and then made her way towards their room, followed by a smirking Gastly and Damian along with Oddish. The grass type glanced concerned at the pokeball of Shuppet. What was going on with the puppet pokemon?

It didn't take long for the group to take all their stuff from the rest room and minutes later, the trainers and their pokemon were now wandering through the streets of Violet City. Between the whole group was a strange atmosphere. No one attempted to speak for whatever reason. Even Gastly didn't make a single sound. It was really awkward. Damian was deep in his thoughts and stared at Shuppet's pokeball.

"Was Shuppet really that mad, that it lost?", the trainer thought to himself. "I mean, I get why he'd be upset but isn't he exaggerating a bit? He did defeat Pidgeotto after all and..."

But before Damian could continue his thoughts, he suddenly bumped into Nikki.

"Ouch! What the heck Nikki?", the boy exclaimed angrily, while Oddish just looked confused. However, Nikki did not answer. Before Damian could ask again, a voice beat him to the punch.

"I was wondering where you went my dear."

Those words came from a man. He was dressed in a grey suit, along with a white cravat. His head was completely bald, save for some small amount of white hair and the man himself looked like he was in his early 60s. He approached Nikki, who seemed to be completely surprised by his appearance. Even Gastly seemed rather confused at the sight of this person.

"Castor, what brings you here?"Nikki asked confused. The man smiled slightly.

"I think that is obvious my dear. Your father sent me. He said that he'd need to see you.", the man replied. The girl shook her head frustrated.

"I already told you on the train, that I want to keep traveling! I only have one badge at the moment and I want to travel with this boy.", she pouted angrily.

That last part surprised Damian. Nikki wanted to continue to travel with him? But why?

"It will not take much long, your father said so.", the strange man named Castor answered casually. He then turned to Damian.

"Why don't you go to the next gym town? Nikki will catch up on you, I can assure you." He then looked back to Nikki.

"Now then, shall we go? We wouldn't want to keep your father waiting now, would we?" He turned around and stated to leave

Nikki nodded slowly and then faced Damian.

"Sorry man. I'll catch up on you. Just get the next badge."

She then followed the man, along with her Gastly, leaving a confused Damian and Oddish behind. The trainer looked at his grass pokemon confused.

"So umm, what was that just now?"Oddish asked confused. Damian shrugged his shoulders.

"Not really sure. Nikki seemed to know that guy though and she did go with him. Never saw her giving up an argument this quickly."

"Well, her dad wanted to see Nikki so no wonder, that she just gave up. Guess that Nikki can't really argue against daddy. ", the poison pokemon giggled. With a sigh, Damian turned around.

He was curious as to why the girl went away with this man named Castor. Nikki did tell him that she wanted to travel with Damian and that she told him that already on the train. Was that the reason why Nikki seemed slightly annoyed on the train? Because she argued with Castor?

…..

It is of no importance

"I don't care , why Nikki just left! She'll catch onto us! Right now we need to go to Goldenrod City!", he exclaimed harshly with a glare to his pokemon, which made Oddish jump.

"Hey Damie, why are you so mad and scary all of a sudden?", the poison type asked. Surprised, Damian blinked for a few seconds and then shook his head.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. I guess I'm just a bit tired.", he replied and gave a fake yawn. "Anyways, we should get going. I think going past the Alph Ruins would be a good start. Let's go."

He started to walk away, while Oddish hesitated at first, but then followed the trainer with a rather sceptical look on their face.

If the two would have turned around, they may have noticed three team rocket grunts along with their Mightyena.

**AN: Sorry if that update took longer, than it should have been. I was quite busy and didn't always have the time. Anyways, before 'll wrap this up, let's read that one new review:**

**Plutodragon chapter 20 . Jul 28 **

**Hi there. I'm just wondering if Oddish will become Bellossom. She better**

**AN: Well, I don't really want to give any spoilers. If you want to find that out, just continue to read the story! Or don't, your decision really.**

**Anyways, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter! Stay tuned for more! See ya!**


End file.
